


I Am The Monster

by Playfulelectrode



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Adventure & Romance, F/F, F/M, Gen, Love, M/M, Post Season 2, Thriller, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-01
Updated: 2019-02-12
Packaged: 2019-08-13 22:51:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 31,954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16481261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Playfulelectrode/pseuds/Playfulelectrode
Summary: After a year of being trapped in the cabin she’s over it, but cabin fever isn’t the only things she’s battling. With missing her friends, and trying to figure out what a true family is, she seems to be reliving her experiences as the monster she used to be. There’s a chill filling the air, and even though she feels like running, she just might be the only one who can save the town once again.This is post season two, with a look into season three themes (Kind of). Takes place in the fall.





	1. Cold to the Core

El sat on the couch, her school work sitting next to her as she watched a rerun of Cheers. She had lost focused maybe ten minutes ago, trying to imagine what it would be like to just walk into a bar, just walk into anywhere and have friends. She looked to the front door of the cabin, snuggling deeper into the blanket she had dragged from Hoppers bed.

He had told her a year ago, after everything had calmed down once again, that they would get out of there. He said they would find a place, nothing too big, but nothing as small as the cabin. He let her out during the summer, let her run around with her friends and be in the sun, but as winter set in she could feel it again. It was the feeling that sat at the back of her mind; like she was stuck.

She turned the T.V. off, her head tilting to the side as she did it. She was tired of hearing people on laugh tracks for the day. She let her head lay back on the couch, listening to the ringing of the silence as she let out a heavy sigh. She could watch her friends from the dark space of her mind, but the last time she did that she felt an anger grow inside of her that she couldn’t quite understand. Two years of this, just sitting and waiting. She felt as if she was being imprisoned again, except now she could be a little freer.

She glanced at the clock that sat over the small dining table. It was past twelve, and even though she was excited to have Hopper home, she wasn’t ready to share the space again. She couldn’t figure out what she wanted. She couldn’t figure out if she wanted to be around someone or be alone.  Ever since the end of summer she had felt this growing infection in the back of her mind; a realization that she had been trying to hide from herself.

Hopper liked to say that they were almost there. They were almost to the point when she could live the normal life they had been working towards. She was now ahead of the party when it came to school work, Nancy teaching her senior level classes. She had worked so hard to get to that point, missing nights of sleep because she wanted to be the best that she could be, but it would all mean nothing to her in the end. She would never be normal and she knew that. No matter if she went to school, or got a job; she would always be Eleven.

She could hear the wind chimes she had begged Hopper to hang up on the porch during the summer, it rang fast as the winter wind blew past it, making her want to snuggle into Hoppers covers more. She thought about turning the T.V. back on, the silence making her think things she wasn’t ready to think about. She gave a hearty sigh, flipping the T.V. back on with her mind, moving the channels until it was switched to the fuzzy black and white screen. She lay back on the couch, pulling the blanket over her head, before she closed her eyes.

She wanted to see Mike, mostly because it had been three weeks since the last time they had seen each other in person. Hopper had been working a lot of weekends, and Mike couldn’t help but mouth back at his teachers, meaning he was under house arrest watching his little sister most days. Instead she found Will, washing his hands in a school sink, his eyes cast down at what he was doing.

She walked slowly to him, watching as he just sat with his hands in the warm water, steam starting to come out from the facet. He let out a relived smile, his body slightly relaxing.

“Dude what happened?” Dustin came around both of them, His voice slightly panicked. He looked down at the warm water, sticking his finger in it before quickly pulling it out. “Dude,” he said turning the faucet off. “You’re burning yourself. What’s going on?”

“I thought I felt it,” Will said softly, looking at his red hands. “I guess it was just a draft going through the room, but I thought a felt a chill go through me; like it was back.” Dustin went and retrieved a paper towel, handing it to his friend.

“El closed the gate,” Dustin said softly. “You’re going to be okay.” He put his hand on Will’s shoulder, letting a comfortable silence pass through them.

“I guess it’s just the time of year,” Will said softly. “I’ll be fine.” El put her hand out; wanting to reassure Will that it would be okay. She could feel it too, a chill settling over her. She had been feeling it all day, but Will was right. It was the time of year. They both were just waiting for something bad to happen.

“Let’s go to lunch. Lucas said he brought his moms cookies from home.” Will let a smile set on his face, El let a frown set on hers. She waved her hand through Will, making them disappear in front of her. She looked around at the darkness; trying to think of someone else to watch. Her mind going from Joyce to Hopper, then finally realizing the last time she had watched the two of them it almost felt like she was interrupting a moment. She thought about Max, how she had taught her over the summer how to fix her hair.

She heard a locker slam behind her, turning fast to the noise.

“I did not,” Lucas whined.

“You did too,” Max shot back; folding her arms in front of her chest. They stood in front of tall red lockers. Both of them seeming not too pleased. “Tamera told me in second period that you pretty much ran to partner up with Cloe.”

“She has a ninety-seven in the class, I would be an idiot not to partner with her.” Lucas said a little louder. Ell shook her head, walking towards them slowly. She had always heard their bickers, and Max had told her once about a big fight they had in deciding if goat cheese was better than regular.

“She tried to cut my hair off in Spanish two weeks ago.” Max yelled back at him. “Do you not remember holding me back from pounding her into the ground?” Lucas covered his face with his hands in frustration.

“What are we fighting about today,” Mike said walking from behind El. El’s face lit up, her stomach slightly dropping when she looked up into his face. He tried moving Lucas out of the way of a locker, messing with the combination before opening it.

“Your boy here partnered up with Cloe Stafford,” Mike looked to Lucas while piling his backpack into his locker.

“Really?” He questioned his friend.

“She has the highest grade in the class,” Lucas yelled at him.

“Okay,” Mike said with a slight grin. Lucas rolled his eyes, El let out a laugh at her friend; moving to stand closer to Mike. He was taller than she remembered. Mike stopped what he was doing, staring into his locking before looking at the space in which she stood. For a moment it was as if they were looking into one another’s eyes.

“If you want to make it up to me you can give me your cookie at lunch,” Max said calming down slightly. Mike looked back to his friends, acting like their small interaction never happened.

“You can have mine,” Mike said pulling out a brown paper back before closing his locker. “My mom packed me some oatmeal cookies.”

“Gross,” Max said. All three turned away from her, getting ready to move down the hall to lunch. El watched her friends go, Mike slightly looking back before continuing. For just a brief moment she had felt good, listening to her friends bicker, helping to ease the pain slightly.

She closed her eyes as the lockers disappeared beside her; opening them again to Hopper’s blanket that rested on top of her face. She could feel blood run down from her nose. She quickly stood from her spot, walking to the kitchen to get a paper towel. She sighed in frustration, as a small chill filled her body, making her run back to the blanket she had left behind on the couch.

…

Will knew what he felt, and a cold draft wasn’t it. He had been sitting in English with Dustin, his teacher reading Ray Bradbury out to the class. He had only been half listening, mostly gazing out of the windows as the clouds grew slightly darker. There was a cold front moving through today. His mom had made him stuff a large coat into his locker that morning, because by the time school let out it would be raining and cold. That’s when he felt it, the cold breeze going through him. It was almost as if it moved inside of his body, and not down his skin. He sat up straight, shaking out the feeling before it hit him again.

He raised his hand, the teacher stopping mid-sentence.

“Do you have a question Mr. Byers,” She asked.

“May I use the restroom,” Dustin watched as Will stood before the teacher could answer. Moving to the classroom door and disappearing into the hall. He moved fast to the bathroom, feeling as if something was following close behind. He felt cold, but a sweat built up on his forehead as he moved into the boy’s room.

He needed the comfort of knowing. He needed to feel something warm or he would go crazy. He let the faucet run for a minute, before shoving his hands under the warm water. He sighed in relief, the warm water felt good, it felt welcoming.

He could still feel it. He could always feel it, but for some reason today; today was the worst.

“Dude,” Dustin busted into the boys room, throwing his and Wills backpack on the ground. “What happened?” He looked at Will, the warmth of the water making his finger go numb. He wasn’t the monster, he was Will Byers. He was normal, as normal as he could be anyway. He was lost in his thought, feeling eyes on him from all directions when he felt the water stop.

“Dude,” Dustin said loudly. “You’re burning yourself. What’s going on?” Will didn’t really know how to explain it, he didn’t really know if he wanted to explain it.

“I thought I felt it,” Will admitted out loud. “I guess it was just a draft going through the room, but I thought I felt a chill go through me; like it was back.” He pictured the darkness he had felt last year; the small snip-bits of memory that would come and go every once and a while. He felt the guilt, weighing on his shoulders. Because he could still hear his mom cry at night when she thought everyone was asleep.

Dustin rambled on about how the gate was closed. Of course Will let himself believe it, but as the time came closer and closer to Halloween he could feel it; this pull in his gut telling him to run while he still could. He let Dustin lead them out of the bathroom, taking their backpacks as they went. Today would be a good day, because Lucas brought his mother’s cookies, the best the parties ever had. Today would be a good day, because Dustin was right. The gate was closed and there shouldn’t be anything to worry about.

…

Mike only half listened as they sat in the back of the cafeteria. He stared down at the sandwich his mother had made him that morning, feeling his stomach turn slightly. He had been feeling weird this past week. The nerves of the month were getting the better of him, and worst of all he was seriously lacking some El time. It had been three weeks since they had last gotten to meet, and even though he knew it would be for the better, for some reason he felt like something was off; like she was trying to tell him something from afar.

“I’m pretty sure you’ll be fine,” Max said dryly, eating half of Lucas’s cookie.

“Well I don’t,” Dustin said back from across the table. Mike took a bite of his sandwich, looking over to Will in hopes he could fill him in on the conversation. “Ms. Vice wants to have a parent teacher conference with my mom,” he whined. “I can’t do that to her it’ll break her heart.”

“Ms. Vice doesn’t know what year it is,” Lucas said back to him. “Just explain that to your mom, she’ll understand.”

“Or,” Max said with a mouth full of cookie. “You can tell Ms. Vice to shove it. Its 1985, women don’t need husbands to survive anymore. So what if your dad is gone, sometimes that’s for the better anyway.” The table went quiet for a moment, the subject of Dustin dad making everyone a little uneasy.

“Maybe I can make Steve my male guidance for the paper,” Dustin said after a moment.

“Or,” Max stuck up her figure in thought, “you can do it as your mom like you intended to do in the first place.”

“I would rather do my mom as my male guidance over my dad any day,” Will put in. “I mean if I had to do it I would probably pick my brother though.” Mike refocused on his sandwich, Dustin’s paper debacle not really interesting him.

It was almost like she was there; in the hallway. He thought he could smell the perfume Nancy had gotten her for Christmas, but no one else seemed to notice.

“Mike,” Wills voice rang. Mike looked all around him as students stood from their lunch tables, moving to throw away their trash. “Bell rang, let’s go.” Mike stood in a haze, pilling all the food he didn’t touch into his brown bag. Will grabbed his arm before he could finish. “Can we talk, after school?” Mike slowly turned his gaze to his friend.

“Of course,” He said lightly. “Is everything okay?” Will shifted his eyes, looking down at the table.

“Yeah,” He said simply, a small smile appearing on his face. “I just, need an ear.” He shrugged his shoulders, letting go of Mikes arm. They both gathered their things, moving to their next class.

…

Hopper sat with his feet on his desk, a single cigarette drooping from his lips. He could feel his eyes falling, the paper in his hand slowly slipping out. It had been a long day, and ever since he agreed to let El read at night they had been going to bed later and later. They were in the middle of The Hobbit, and even though he would never be caught with that book in public, they were both getting into it.

A strong knock on the door made hopper jump, the paper falling to the floor; his lit cigarette falling into his lap.

“Shit,” he swept it onto the floor quickly before stomping it out. The door creaked open.

 “Hey chief,” Officer Callahan peaked passed the door. Hopper waved him in, the tall officer closing the door behind him. “Ms. Norman called, again.” He took a seat in front of his desk, leaning back in the chair. “I’ve been to her house two times this week. She says a monster is walking around her Lily garden.” Callahan let out a small laugh. “These people are going crazy chief,” Hopper stared at his colleague, trying to think of something that would resemble the monster Ms. Norman had to be talking about. “and I told her not to worry,” he ended, bring Hopper out of thought. “I’m sure it was a deer or something, maybe a bear.”

“Just write up a report,” Hopper said softly, looking down at his watch. He stood from his seat, adjusting his pants on his waste.

“Ah,” Callahan said standing from his seat. “The little lady,” he gave Hopper a little smile, raising his eyebrows. “So, when are you going to bring her in?”

“Never,” Hopper grabbed his coat from the coat rack, taking a peak out the window as he put it on. “I don’t need you and Powell teaching her officer lingo.” Callahan followed him out of the office, Hopper closing the door as they went. Floe held up his keys, not taking her eyes off the book she was reading. “I don’t need Floe teaching her anything either.” She looked up from her book with an eye roll.

“Poor thing probably suffering without me,” she said before going back to her book. Callahan laughed, Hopper eyed both of them.

“Fill out the paper work,” Hopper said pointing his keys at Callahan. “I’ll let animal patrol know tomorrow there’s something walking around the south of town. They’ll keep their eyes open.”

…

El counted the wood panels in the ceiling. She listened to the wind pick up and whistled through the cracks in the walls. After visiting her friends at school she got a little lonelier than she expected. She thought seeing them would help ease the pain, but seeing them, listening to them talk; it made her realize how much she missed out on every day.

There were thick boots stomping up the front steps, the sound of Hopper signing through the door. She stayed on her spot on the floor, unlocking the locks before he could knock. The door creaked open, his footsteps stopping before they picked up again.

“I didn’t knock,” he grumbled a little closing the door and hanging his coat up. She stayed on the floor, her eyes glued to a wood panel, trying to remember what number she was on. “What’cha doin?” He said standing over her. His body just slightly out of her eye sight. She gave a sign, trying to find Hopper with her eyes without moving her head.

“I don’t remember the number I was on,” She said to him, looking back up to the ceiling. She took her hand, pointing to one end of the ceiling before she started counting again. “One, two, three,” she said softly. Hopper moved into the kitchen, grabbing a beer before taking his shoes off and finding a seat on the couch.

“Did you do your homework?” he asked. El rolled her eyes, her finger still pointed to the ceiling.

“Ten, eleven, twelve,” she continued softly.

“Did you finish that paper Dustin told you to write?”

“Eighteen, nineteen, twenty.”

“Kid,” Hopper looked over the couch at her. She rolled her eyes before sitting up from the floor.

“I finished everything on Monday,” she said dryly to him. “I finished my math, physics, and the paper Dustin was talking about three days ago.” She lay back down, trying to find the wooden panel she had left off on. She brought her finger back into the air.

“Why didn’t you tell me,” Hopper asked, switching on the T.V. before looking back at her. “I would have found something for you to do.

“I found something to do,” she said back to him. She frowned; thinking about her day. Watching Mike walk away from her, listening to Will in the bathroom, the cold chill that was running through her body. She didn’t really think it was anything. There had been a cold wind outside all day, but for some reason she couldn’t stop thinking about what Will had said. What if something was happening and they all just didn’t want to notice it?

“I thought you can come with me into town tomorrow.” El sat up quickly, her vision going dark as blood rushed to her head.

“Like, outside the car?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he said softly, looking towards her. “Like inside a store, maybe two.” El stood with excitement.

“What are we buying?”

“Well.” Hopper looked down to his beer can, and then up at the T.V. commercials were playing softly as he thought. “Maybe some more clothes for you. You have summer stuff, but you’ll be starting school in the winter.”

“Really?” El felt like her world got a little bit warmer. She walked to the couch, sitting right beside him. “Can I get stockings, and a dress? Maybe some new shoes? Nancy told me the name of the store where she gets all her hair bands.”

“Wow, kid, calm down.” He put his hands up with a smile before ruffling her hair. The curls lay slack just slightly past her shoulders. The glow of summer still standing out from the brown strands. “We’ll see when we get there, okay?” She nodded her head; stand to move to her room. “Where you going?”

“To do some research,” she said. She popped into her room, grabbing the stack of magazines Nancy had left on her night stand. She walked to the dining table, taking the red grading pen that always sat there. She opened each page, circling each item of clothing she liked. She finally had something, another moment she could grasp onto.

She had been thinking about school nonstop. She was nervous about interacting with the other students, but got plenty of practice in during the summer. She was excited to know where her locker would be, and what classes she had and when. Now she had something else she hadn’t even thought about. What she was going to wear every day when she got to leave the cabin.

“I can’t buy you a trunk load of things though,” Hopper said from the couch, eyes glued to the T.V.

“I would be fine with anything,” El said, circling a corduroy red skit. She sat there for the next hour, looking through outfits and looking at every girl’s hair style. She touched the hair on her shoulders, a small smile forming on her face.

…

Mike and Will raced to his house, the freedom of Will being to use his bike being fairly new. The heavy wind flew into their face, a few spits of water falling cold as they went. They both rested their bikes against the house, Will following Mike into his basement. Mike threw his shoes off, his scarf coming off next before he plopped onto the couch.

“So Byers,” Mike said, watching his friend do the same as him. Mike grabbed a small pillow from the side of the couch, hugging it to his stomach before he looked to his friend. “What is the matter at which we are discussing my friend?” he said inquisitively. Will gave him a small smile before melting into the back of the couch.

“I got this weird feeling today,” His smile slowly disappeared as Mikes stomach began to drop. “I don’t think anything is wrong, but it just made me think of it; that monster.” Mike adjusted himself on the couch, reaching for Will’s hand to reassure him.

“El closed the gate,” he said softly. He thought about that statement, the name rolling off his lips feeling slightly foreign. How long had it been since he truly said her name out loud. “Maybe you should talk to her about it. If anyone can understand it would be her.” Mike took his hand away from Will’s, both boys giving each other a small smile.

“I think she’s coming to my house for dinner tomorrow night.” Mikes body perked up. “Hopper told my mom he’s been saving some money to go shopping for more normal clothes; since she’ll be in school starting January.” Mike tried to picture her picking out colorful clothes, all mismatched, but she would still make them look good.

“Could I come over?” The question slipped out before he even thought of it. “I mean, I just haven’t seen her in a while. I think Dustin was the last one to drop off homework to the cabin.”

“I’m sure it would be fine, as long as you’re okay with Hopper glaring at you the entire time.”

“I’m used to it. I think he’s still mad at me for letting her jump off the low rocks in the quarry.” They both laughed; Will shaking his head.

“We all jumped off the low rocks, he just need to get over it.” Will stood from his seat, grabbing his back pack and slipped on his shoes. “I’ll let my mom know you’re coming home with me tomorrow. We need to work on that history project anyway.” They waved good bye to one another, Mike closing the basement door behind him. He looked towards the blanket fort that sat against the wall, thinking of all the summer days they spent under it; teaching her science, literature, history, and people’s names throughout the town. It had felt so long ago, even though it had only been three weeks since they had truly talked to one another.

He walked over to the fort, switching on his walkie talkie. He lay back against the wall, before trying to find the right thing to say.

“Hey El,” he started. “I’ve been thinking about you all day.”

…

El had heard of the phrase _shop till you drop_ , but she didn’t know it was a literal thing. Hopper said they would only get a few things, but neither of them expected Joyce to show up in the middle of their excursion; all three grabbing an ice cream from Scoops Ahoy before continuing through the mall. As they stepped outside after hours of being indoors, the sun was about to set.

“I’ll see you back at my place,” Joyce said sliding the last bag into the back of Hopper truck. She grabbed El’s shoulder with a smile. “I can’t wait to see you in all these clothes.”

“Thank you for the help,” she said back to the woman. They parted ways, El and Hopper starting up the truck, watching Joyce drive away.

“That was a good hall kid. I think you’re good for a while.” El nodded her head fast with excitement.

“I think I found almost everything I’ve ever dreamed about.” She said happily. “All I have now is my placement exam.” She looked ahead in determination.

“You got it kid, that test will be nothing compared to what you’ve been learning in the past few weeks.”

“Dustin said I was ahead of him in my studies.” El’s smile grew on her face, because just a few months before she had cried to Mike about how stupid she was. Now, she felt intelligent; she felt like nothing was going to get in her way.

“Just don’t stress about it. Sometimes stress makes you forget stuff before an exam.” Hopper turned down the road, flicking on his lights as the sky got darker.

“That happens?” El could feel a bubble form in the middle of her stomach. What if she forgot everything? What if she couldn’t even remember her real name and put Eleven by mistake?

“As I said,” Hopper continued looking over to her with a small smile. “Don’t stress, you’ll be fine.” They pulled down the Byers long drive, the road making El bounce around in her seat. She thought about how the exam would look. What if she forgot how to read? She shook her head. She was going to be fine; it was all going to be fine.

They parked the truck, Hopper opening the door before El could even get her seat belt off. The cold hair sent a chill to her cheeks, moving through her body like she had never felt before. She froze in her motion, the cold settling with unease in her body. It felt off in some way, like it was trying to tell her to go away.

“Come on kid,” Hopper said opening her door. She slipped out of the car, looking around the outside of the house; seeing nothing but trees. “Oh great,” Hopper voice sounded disappointed. El looked up, following his gaze to two bikes that sat against the house. Mikes bike hidden under Will’s. A smile grew big on her face, all worries disappearing as she moved past the man and to the house. She opened the door without nocking, he eyes settling on Nancy and Jonathon on the couch looking at photographs.

“El,” Nancy said with a smile. She stood from her spot, walking over to the girl and giving her a big hug. “It’s so good to see you.” El squeezed her back, Nancy’s perfume giving her comfort. “How are the studies coming? Do you need any more books?” EL nodded her head at the question.

“I’m almost done with physics,” she said with a proud smile. “I’ve also moved onto statistics.” Nancy’s eyebrows rose.

“I haven’t even moved onto statistics,” She moved back to Jonathan who gave her a small wave. “Who’s teaching you that?”

“Mr. Clark teaches a night class at the community college.” She looks down at the floor shyly. “I’ve been watching over at night.” Nancy stares at her in amazement while Jonathan placed his pictures onto the coffee table.

“That’s incredible,” Nancy said softly.

“Maybe you could be my tutor, the one I have now is too distracting.” Jonathan laughed, Nancy smacked his arm playfully.

“Mom,” El’s head turned toward the kitchen, Will appearing in front of her. “Can we barrow your sewing stuff?” He turned his head toward her, disregarding anything his mom had to say before moving to El to give her a big hug. Hopper moved around them, the smell of cigarette smoke freshly following his trail. “Mikes helping me with a project,” he grabbed her hand pulling her down the hall. “We’ve been trying to figure out what materials to make our history project out of.” Will’s room was filled with colored paper, clothe, and paint, Mike sitting in the middle of the mess trying to cut out a small cloth in the shape of a shirt.

He looked up at her, dropping everything in his hands before jumping into her arms. They both laughed slightly, holding one another tightly swaying back and forth. He pulled apart from her, planting a kiss on her forehead before bringing her into another tight hug.

“I’ve missed you so much,” He said almost squeezing the air out of her.

“You know I’m here too right,” Will said jokingly, witting in the center of the messy floor. Mike grabbed her hand, pulling her to his spot on the floor. She looked around at their mess, trying to decipher what they were doing.

“How does this pertain to history?” she asked.

“Pertain,” Mike said; impressed. “We are trying to make the theatre seen from when Lincoln was shot.” Mike pointed to a cardboard replica of a theatre. “Will and his abilities made that, now we are trying to make the people and their clothes.” El nodded her head, picking up a yellow sheet of paper while the boys started cutting clothes again.

“Do you have to do stuff like this a lot?” she asked. She wasn’t sure she’d be able to do it. Being creative was kind of hard for her. Most of the time she could barely draw a stick figure.

“Not all the time. Mostly once a year everyone gets a project like this, but you don’t have to do what we’re doing. One group is writing a paper, another is putting together a play to perform in class.” Will shrugged his shoulders.

“Do you have to talk in class?” she asked nervously.

“Yeah,” Mike said bumping his shoulder into hers. “But it’s not that bad. You get used to it.” El nodded her head watching the boys work. She listened to them talk about people she had never heard of, a name called Stacey that made Will blush and Mike seem angry.

“Dustin said you almost fell asleep in class today,” Mike said. Will stopped his cutting rolling his eyes.

“Well when we turn the lights low to read it makes me sleepy,” Mike stared at Will hard, Will staring back.

“It had nothing to do with that feeling you had yesterday?” El perked up at his words; Will let out a sigh of frustration.

“Subtle,” Will said looking to El. “He wants me to ask you a question El.” Mike rolled his eyes this time. “I mean it’s not really a question, more of me telling you something and you responding. I mean I guess that is a question.”

“Will,” El said softly. “It’s okay.” She watched as his face changed from thoughtful, to scared, and then to sad.

“I’ve been feeling something,” Will said looking up to her. “Like a cold draft that settles inside of me.” El’s stomach dropped. The feeling that she had been having, he was feeling it too. She looked away from him, to the bare walls of his room. The last time she had set foot in this house it had been covered in papers, now Will had taken everything off his walls; leaving them bare. “I know you closed the gate,” he continued. “I guess I was just wondering if it could be something else; maybe the gate opened on its own?”

“um,” she looked around the room trying to think; Mike put down what he was doing to look at her.

“No pressure El,” he said to her. “He might just be having PTSD. Plus it’s gotten pretty cold out so it might just be that too.” El tried not to lock eyes with Mike.

“I can feel it too,” She said in a small voice. She looked up at Will, their eye locking for only a second; her eyes falling to her lap. “But, I closed the gate. I don’t know what else it would be. Maybe we both have this PTSD.”

“Post-Traumatic Stress, it happens after major events.” Mike said to her. She nodded her head, recognizing it from somewhere.

“Yeah,” Will said softly. “It could just be the time of year.” He picked up his scissors, starting the fabric he was working on. “I’m not seeing anything, so as long as that’s not happening.” They all smiled at that, Mike starting to work with his materials again too.

El thought about his words, about how short they were. Was it the time of year? She had felt it coming too, she had felt it yesterday at the cabin. No matter how much she bundled herself up she was still cold; like someone had filled her with ice cubes.

…

“Thanks for coming out today,” Hopper stood at the sink with Joyce; his hands wrist deep in warm soapy water. “I’m sure it meant a lot to her; meant a lot to me.” Joyce smiled at him, drying a plate he handed to her. The kids laughed in the living room as they played with the T.V. dial.

“She deserves the world Hop,” Hopper could feel his chest grow warm. “I just hope this is it, you know? We can finally live again; maybe better than we did before.” Hopper felt a smile grow on his face, a question forming on the tip of his tongue. He let the stress of work fade away today; he let himself forget about what it was like before this. It was all he ever wanted in life, to just live and be happy.

“Would living involve more of us?” He asked slowly. He glanced at her from the side of his eyes, picking up forks in the water; scrubbing them.

“I would hope so,” she said softly. “I’ve been thinking.”

“Mom, I’m taking Nancy and Mike home,” Jonathan interrupted. Both adults turn to look at them both, Jonathan’s eyes mostly on Hopper. “I won’t be long.” Nancy gave a soft smile, moving past Jonathan into the living room.

“Drive safe,” Joyce said before turning back to drying the dishes.

“Yeah,” he kept his eyes on Hopper, the man feeling a little discomfort from him. He wasn’t surprised, wanted to make sure his mother didn’t fall into a mess like the Bob situation was.

“I’ve been thinking about moving,” Joyce said once Jonathan was out of the room. “I haven’t said anything to the boys, but I’ve been looking in the paper, and driving by different houses.” Hopper nodded his head. The thought of moving had played in his head as well. He wanted to get El a real home; one that would be closer to school and town.

“I’ve been doing the same,” he said to her. “Have you found anything worth looking into?”

“There’s an old house on the other side of town, closer to the school, but out on its own. I thought, if anything were to happen again, we would need something still away from people.” Hopper nodded his head in understanding. “With the money we got from, you know, everything, I would be able to buy something better. This house is a little big though, a lot of rooms.”

“Does it have updates, has it been inspected?” Hopper asked.

“Maybe you should come with me and look. You know that stuff better than I do.” She said to him. They stopped what they were doing to look at one another. “Of course only if you wanted to. I just,” she stopped to think about what to say next. “I had a thought, about both of our living situations.”

“As in, we live together?” A smile formed on his face again, going back to cleaning the silver that remained at the bottom of the sink. “I don’t know,” he said jokingly. “A little birdy told me you attract danger. I don’t think I could live with someone like that.” She smacked his arm with her towel laughing. “When did you want to go?” He asked, his laugh quickly disappearing.

“As in, you would want to look with me?” she asked him slowly.

“I think it’s a great idea.” He handed her the last fork. “El needs a mom figure. She needs a family, a support system, and I think Will does too.” He watched as tears filled Joyce’s eyes, but she didn’t dare let them drop.

“I think it’s a good idea too.” Hopper drained the sink, letting Joyce wipe down the counters in silence. He listened to Will and El talk in hushed tones in the living room. A comfort grew inside him he hadn’t felt in a long time.

…

Mike didn’t want to let El go. He gave her a small kiss on the lips, their foreheads touching before Nancy pulled him away from her. She gave him a shy wave good-bye, him doing the same before he shoved his hands into his pockets.

“Do you think my mom likes Hopper?” Jonathan said through the silence of the car. He pulled out of their long drive way, his forehead crinkled in thought.

“I think it’s cute,” Nancy said looking to her boyfriend.

“Adult romance is gross,” Mike said. He tried to picture his parents being in love, getting the shivers in disgust.

“Oh, grow up,” Nancy said back to him. “You can’t talk about gross the way you and El act around each other.” Mike rolled his eyes. He found it different, because they were meant to be together. He was supposed to find her in the woods that day; there would have been no other way.

“I just,” Jonathan thought before he started thinking again. “My mom still cries at night. She thinks we can’t hear her, but we do and I think it’s about Bob.”

“She’s probably traumatized,” Mike said to him. “She was there, you know, when it happened. I wouldn’t expect her to be fine after seeing that.”

“Yeah but,” Jonathan look at him through the rear view mirror. “I just don’t think she should jump into anything so fast.”

“It’s been a year,” Nancy said. “She can’t wait forever.”

“Yeah,” he said sadly. “I guess I’m just over reacting.”

“I mean it is your mom,” Nancy said. “They say sons have a special bond with their mothers.” Mike rolled his eyes, thinking about his mother. Their closest bond was over arguing who would help Holly next.

“I’m ready to be done with this conversation,” Mike said.

“Then maybe we can talk about your special bond with El,” Nancy said jokingly. Her and Jonathan giggled while Mike grumbled under his breathe. To be honest he wouldn’t mind talking about El, but for some reason talking about her with Nancy made him blush. He thought that maybe she wouldn’t get it, that she would laugh at him and what he had to say about love.

The car ride was longer than he wanted it to be, and when Jonathan stopped in front of their house he jumped out of the car before he could witness the two make out. He got his bike from the trunk of the car, riding it down the drive way to the back of the house. Today he wouldn’t call El, only because he knew she was with Will; the thought making him slightly mad. He wanted alone time with El, something that didn’t came with their relationship. Hopper made sure someone would always be with them, and even though he was grateful to be able to see her, he was also frustrated.

He wanted to ask her question that seemed private, things like what her favorite color was and why, or what was her favorite thing about walking around the woods. He knew a lot about El, but if they were being personal, if they were being a couple, he didn’t know anything about her.

“Mike?” he mom yelled from the top of the stairs. He kicked his shoes off, running up from the basement and into the kitchen. His mother stood at the sink, Holly standing on a chair next to her. She was helping their mother dry the easy things while his mother washed the heavy and sharp things. “Did you finish the project?” She asked without turning around. Mike walked to the fridge, pulling out the apple juice and grabbing a clean glass.

“I think we still have some minor things to do, but it’s looking good. Will made a really cool theater out of a cardboard box and construction paper.” Mike shrugged his shoulders while Holly watched him poor himself some juice. He looked over to his sister, grabbing the sippy cup she was attempting to dry; poring a small amount. Holly’s face little up, bouncing slightly as he handing the cup to her.

“That’s great hon,” His mother said. “Say thank you Holly.”

“Thanks Mike,” She said loudly. “I like the color pink!” she yelled holding her cup in the air. The conversation died there, his mother asking her what else she liked. Holly went on her list, somethings harder to understand through her toddler talk. Mike sat against the counter, thinking about his night.

He felt a relief fill him, knowing that El was still there and not just a pretend figure he talk to at night. Sometimes he thinks she’s still missing, that all their time spent together in the past year was all made up. It made him feel better when he got to see her with his own eyes; when he got to hold her hand and kiss her head.

“You know what I heard today,” His mom said as Holly finished her list. “Chief Hopper and Joyce Byers were shopping with a young girl today.” Mike looked up from his juice his mother stealing a glance at him. “Did she say anything about it tonight?” Mike tried to figure out what to say. They had been good over the summer, spending a lot of their time in the woods and away from the public.

“Um,” He thought about this next semester coming up. He thought about how much the party gets together in the basement after school. She was going to find out sooner or later, and with the way gossip spread through town it would probably be sooner. “I think Hopper was thinking of adopting.” His mother gasped at his words.

“Hopper with a new child?” She dried her hands on her apron, fully turning to him. “Have you met her? Was she there tonight? Are Hopper and Joyce together?” Mike rolled his eyes, wishing he had kept his mouth shut.

“I don’t know the details. I have talked to her, but I don’t really know her.” His mother nodded at his words. He gulped down his last sip; squeezing in-between to two females to rinse out his glass. He moved out of the kitchen before his mother could ask him anything else, watching as she moved for the phone.

…

El lay on her bed, looking up at the ceiling as Hopper played music from the record player. She thought about Will’s words, that feeling of cold that she couldn’t really get rid of. It was almost as if his words had made it worse, her stomach was starting to hurt, and all she could think about was the big monster behind the gate.

She hadn’t put her new clothes away yet. She was going to save it for tomorrow, giving her something to do while Hopper was at work. So, when he walked into her room he stumbled slightly on her shopping bags.

“I’ll be leaving early tomorrow,” He told her, kicking a bag out of the way. “I was wondering if we could put reading tonight on hold, I need to catch up on some sleep.” El twisted her face slightly.

“Okay,” she said sitting up. “I think I might go to sleep early too, I haven’t been sleeping well.” Hopper nodded his head; turning her light off as he walked out. She heard the scratch of the record as he picked the needle up. She moved to the top of her bed, undoing the covers to move under them. The sheets were cold, and in the silence of the cabin the whistle of the wind outside was deafening. She gave a little shiver, curling into a ball before closing her eyes.

 

_Jane,” she heard a boy yell. She was standing barefoot in the grass, the trees standing tall around her. She could hear kids laughing, people in the field in front of her playing Frisbee. The sun was sinning bright on her skin, but did nothing to warm her cold body. “Jane?” The boy touched her shoulder, his baseball bat sticking out of the top of his backpack. “Mom and dad are waiting, let’s go.” She nodded her head, turning with the boy to walk through the big park._

_“Who is dad?” she asked him as they walked the gravel of the parking lot not bothering her bare feet._

_“What do you mean?” He laughed. “Did you see that ball I caught in the second inning? I was on a roll today. I’m pretty sure moms going to lose her voice from all the yelling.” El stared at the boy in confusion. Where was she? She felt a chill run up her legs, into the core of her stomach._

_“Come on guys,” A man yelled from a yellow car. She spotted her mother standing by the passenger door, her face pale, her eyes dark. The boy pulled her by the arm, moving closer to his mother and giving her a hug before pilling into the car. She slowly approached her mother, looking up at her face._

_“Mama?” her mother didn’t look at her, just staring straight ahead. “Mom?” El touched the woman’s arm, the cold skin making her jump back. “You’re cold,” she said to her. “Let’s get in the car.”_

_“Rainbow,” her mother said softly. El felt her stomach drop, something familiar dancing at the tip of her tongue._

_“What?”_

_“Three to the right,”_

_“What are you saying?”_

_“Four to the left,”_

_“Mom,” The woman looked down at her, her eyes stern._

_“Leave,” she said strongly. She grabbed El’s arm strongly; El tried to break free.  Her mother’s face came close to hers. “It’s coming.” She could feel the cold over whelm her as her mother’s face started to melt. Everything around her melted like ice cream, slipping away to a blackness she was all too familiar with._

“El,” She moved fast, grabbing the warm hand the rested on her shoulder, moving toward the wall her bed sat against. She gasped in air, seeing a warm glow of light fill the room. “It was just a dream,” Hopper said, finding a set next to her on the bed. She couldn’t breathe; it was as if she had been running for hours. “You’re okay,” he said placing his hand back on her shoulder.

She slowly laid her head back on the pillow, Hopper sitting watch as she tried to calm herself down. She hadn’t really dreamed of her mother before, and to be honest she hadn’t seen her since her big mistake of going to Chicago. She thought she could still feel the woman’s hand gripping her; she could still she the world around her melting.

What’s coming? She thought. What was going to happen? Of course it was just dream. Maybe nothing was coming. Maybe the talk she had with Will had set something off in her brain, maybe she was finally hitting that point of going crazy. She had heard stories of men going crazy after war. Was that the PTSD Mike had told her about?

After a few minutes of Hopper rubbing circles on her back she began to forget what she had even dreamt about. He asked if she were okay, she simply just nodded. He left the light on for her as he walked back out to her bed. The silence leaving thoughts of war to play; figure of wild dogs and shadow beings fighting against her.

 

 


	2. Thunderstorm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wrote this during a storm. I had fun kind of exploring the characters in this one. It's a little bit of a lead up, but I hope you like it.

One of El’s favorite things about dreams was that once she woke up she didn’t really remember them anymore. There were nights where she would wake in cold sweats, the dream quickly fading and no longer plaguing her mind. She would lie in bed for hours trying to remember anything she could, but there would be no memory there; no reason for her to be scared anymore.

These past few dreams had been slightly different. First she had dreamt of her mother; a family she never got the ability to have. She would have dreams of a faceless father that would give her strong hugs, and had a deep girthy laugh. She even dreamt one night that her mother and Hopper where her parents, but even though they would start with a heartwarming fantasy, they would always end with confusion. Her mother would tell her to run, her father would grip her arm tight enough to break it, and from time to time a boy would appear, guiding her somewhere; ending up in the small room of the lab, the copper walls cold and lonely.

“It’s not there anymore,” Hopper had told her that night. Her fear of one day ending up in that room would make her heart skip and her skin crawl. “Nothing is there anymore, just a mall. You like the mall remember?”

Last night she had dreamt of the mirrored walls, where she would sit at a table alone. The air was cold and stiff, the silence hurt her ears, and at some point she thought she would go insane. When she woke she felt the cold of the metal chair she had been sitting on, the scratchy gown still on her skin. She hugged her blanket, looking around at her room for comfort.

“I’ll be back around seven tonight,” Hopper said grabbing his coat by the door. “There are some T.V. dinners, but I would love it if you touched some of those vegetables in the fridge for lunch.” El nodded her head from the couch, a bowl of Caption Crunch getting soggy in the bowl on her lap. She spun her spoon around with her right hand flipping the switch of the channels with her mind.

“Make dinner for you?” She asked as she found a channel she wanted. Hopper pointed to her with a glare.

“Full sentences,” he said.

“Do you want me,” she said every word with a strong enfaces, “to make dinner for you?” Hopper sighed at her attitude.

“No kid,” he tightened his belt. “I’ll probably eat at the office.” She nodded her head as he walked through the door. She clicked every lock behind him as she tried to focus on the commercial, singing along to the Sears ad. She didn’t want to think too much today. Four the past five days her dreams had been making her exhausted. She thought it was getting better, but after Will’s talk last week she didn’t really know where she stood when it came to the upside-down, and if the gate could open on its own.

Her mind flashed to the image of the large gate, the Mind Flair watching from the other side. She shook her head, spooning cereal into her mouth, rolling her eyes as the weather man called for storms that night. She looked out the window, the sun shining and birds singing. She let out a loud sigh laying her head back on the couch and looked up at the wooden ceiling.

“One, two,” she began, counting the panels for the second time that week.

…

Mike was told to race home by his mother when he got out of school. She didn’t want him to get caught up in the bad weather, but at the same time he wanted to make sure Hopper knew what was coming. The last time he and El had been in a thunderstorm together she didn’t seem to be a fan. Over the summer they had many nights of lightening and loud thunder. Even if she had told him she was okay, he could see the fear in her eyes because it was still all new to her.

Mike parked his bike outside of the station, zipping up it jacket a little bit before looking to the dark clouds that started to form over them. He went inside; Flo looked up from her book with a smile, nodding her head in a welcome.

“He’s in his office,” she said to him. Mike thanked her, adjusting his backpack before making his way down the hall. The station seemed to be quiet, the air slightly chilled from outside. The times he had been there it had been bustling, but now it sat still as the storm loomed just outside of town. He stood at Hoppers office door, staring at it in annoyance. He hadn’t been there since the beginning of the semester, where he had yelled at Hopper for not allowing him to come over. He squeezed his hand into a fist, letting it hang in the air.

“Go ahead dear,” Mike jumped, Flo stood just down the hall. “He might get busy as the storm comes in; all men are out on duty right now.” He nodded his head, turning back to the door and knocked.

“Come in,” Hoppers voice sounded muffled, almost tired. Mike opened the door to see a cigarette hanging from his mouth, a file opened in from of him. Hopper looked up, his eyes widening as he took the cigarette from his mouth, putting it out in a rush in the ash tray on his desk.

“She’s going to be so mad,” Mike said closing the door behind him.

“Not if you don’t tell her,” Hopper said back.

“Well, she suspects you do it when she’s not around anyway.” Hopper rolled his eyes.

“What do you need kid, you should be getting home before the storm.”

“I just wanted to make sure she knows the storms coming, El that it.” Mike played with his hands, standing in front of the man. “She, um, I’m sure she would want someone there with her.”

“You’re not going to the cabin kid,” this time it was Mikes turn to roll his eyes. “I wish you could, but if she wants to get into school, and she wants to be successful in this world she needs to focus on herself before she focuses on you.”

“You can be focused and be happy at the same time you know?” Mike said aggressively. “And I wasn’t saying that I wanted to go there, I was just hoping you would leave early so she isn’t alone.” Hopper let out a sigh, rubbing his forehead.

“I’ll be home by seven,” he said after a moment. “She knows what time I’m coming home.”

“Yes but,”

“I really appreciate it kid; I do, but trust me when I say she is going to be fine.” Hopper stood from his seat, trying to make himself seem tall. Mike smirked at him, knowing soon enough he would be just as tall as the man, maybe even taller.

“Fine,” Mike said, “Just tell her I stopped by,” He reached into his pocket, pulling out a note he had been writing all day. Sadly he wasn’t going to be able to talk to her tonight, with the weather being so bad Lucas and his family were coming over to lay low in his basement. Nothing ever came from these storms, but a few months ago a tornado went through a town just south of them, so now his mother was worried. “And give her this,” he handed the folded note to the man, Hopper took it fast. He started to unfold it. “Are you kidding me,” Mike snatched it back. “This is private,” he said holding up the half unfolded note, “Meaning it’s not for you.”

“If there is anything wild,” Hopper pointed his fat finger in Mikes face, “or slightly unchild-like in that note.”

“Unchild-like?” Mike questioned loudly. “You think I’m writing her sex notes or something?” He could feel his face and neck turning red. He scoffed at the man, while Hopper grew a little taller with anger. “You do realize I’m fifteen, right?”

“I know how fifteen year old boys think, I was one of them.”

“Yes well unlike you I’m a decent fifteen year-old boy.” They bother grew quiet, while Mike refolded the note with grace. “This note is for her, she’s going to try and listen in tonight and I’m just letting her know we will have company over so I can’t talk.” He handed the note back to Hopper, the chief took it with so much force it knocked Mikes hand to the side.

“Yeah, yeah,” He grumbled looking down at the note. “Get home before it gets bad out.” He said putting the note into his pocket. Mike rolled his eyes, turning from the guy and heading to the door, he cracked it open before turning back to Hopper.

“I would never do that to El,” he said quietly.

“Do what?”

“Write her inappropriate things. That’s all on her; I would never pressure her for anything.” Hopper sighed; Mike left him at that; his mind racing as to how he would explain to El why Hopper was mad at him, again.

…

Seven o’ clock, that time ran through Hoppers head all day, because unlike the year before he was really trying to be more on time for her. Seven o’ clock, he was almost there, and then he can go home and relax before the storm got really bad, but when he looked at his watch, almost screaming at the time, he jumped from his seat folding all the files on his desk shut.

Day light savings was last week, he hadn’t set his watch back, and now he was an hour late. He rolled his eyes at himself, thunder clapping over his head as her raced out of his office. He locked his door, flying down the hall, grabbing his coat, and bowing his head at the guys in the front as he ran out the front door.

The rain was coming down harder than he thought it was, and instead of the cold air he thought would be coming with the storm, it felt sticky. He walked fast to his truck, opening it and fumbling inside. The lightning was bad, but the thunder was deafening.

She was going to kill him. She was going to lock him out, and he was going to have to spend the night on the porch in the pouring rain. Other than seeing her friends, she didn’t ask for much, just that he would be home when he said he would be. He had to admit, he was really bad at being on time. It was never his thing, and to be honest he knew it would never be his thing, but for El he was trying to make an exception. He was trying to be there for her the best that he could.

He could feel Mike’s not crinkle in his pocket, and he moved to turn the car on. The thought of the boy made his blood boil, and he couldn’t really understand why. He was a good kid, good grades, decent understanding of boundaries, but no matter how much Hopper told himself that the boy was good he couldn’t help but disbelieve it.

And what did he even mean by “unlike you”? He had been a decent fifteen year old, Hopper practically spit with laughter at the thought. He skipped school more than he attended it, and even then when he was there he was roaming the halls with his friends, smoking under the bleachers with Joyce. The thought of her made him smile. Even back then they were a good team.

He wondered how she was faring in the storm tonight. She had all she needed for a power outage, but would the storm stir the family, would Will be okay? Hopper realized he hadn’t even started driving yet, his thoughts causing him to sit silent in the car. He looked to the sky above him, the thunder and lightning getting worse, and at this point he made his decision. He was already an hour late, what would five minutes be. So he left his truck, running back in for the phone.

…

The crowd was laugh at something Diane had said. El wished desperately that she could be as witty as the woman on T.V. They always had the right thing to say, and they always knew when to say it. For El it was the opposite. Most of the time she kept her mouth shut, only because she didn’t know if what she was saying would be funny, or even at all relevant to what anyone else was thinking.

Thunder clapped over the cabin, Making El sink deeper into the couch. She turned the volume up a little more, trying to draw out the sound of the rain above her. Hopper said he would be home by now. It was already approaching eight and he still wasn’t back. She worried for a moment, thinking that something must have happened, but then she turned her attention back to the T.V. as it blared a high pitch sound. The program disappeared, a screen of blue appeared.

“This is a special weather warning,” a weird voice said, El scrambled, turning the volume down as the noise blasted louder and louder. The thunder shook the walls around her, making her jump and hide under the blanket. She had heard of bad things happening is weather before. Flooding, people getting struck by lightning, tornadoes, but she had never seen those in person. Mike had said they were rare, only happening every once and a while. Mike told her Hawkins never really flooded, and when it came to people getting struck by lightning, he said he had never seen it himself.

She closed her eyes, squeezing them as hard as she could, trying to count after each flash she saw behind her eye lids. The light was come just as fast as the noise, making the everything shake around her. She felt exposed, and unsafe, as if the lightning was going to come through her windows and grab her. She took Hoppers blanket, wobbling to her room with it folded all around her. She looked around for a place to be, the lights above her blinking.

It all reminded her too much of the bad things. It reminded her of her dreams, and of the things she had done so long ago. She looked to the space under her bed, looking around her room once more before diving underneath. She crawled to the back corner, the lights going out as she went.  She shivered in fear, it felt as if something was watching over her, like the storm had eyes.

She put her hands over her ears, trying to count with every flash, only getting to one each time. She thought about Mike, how she went to check on him an hour ago, only to see him sitting with Lucas on the basement couch. They had their own flash lights, talking over a new comic book Lucas had gotten a few weeks before.

She focused on what they could be doing now, if their lights went out too. She let a large breath fill he up, her lungs expanding wide as she focused on what they could be doing in the basement, if they were okay.

_The blackness felt welcoming, the water on her feet cold, the air had a slight chill. She looked all around her, listening for any sound that could be made. There was a giggle behind her; Holly’s hair was the first thing she could see in the distance. Mike had thrown her onto the couch, tickling her as she screamed in joy._

_“I can’t breathe,” she laughed. Mike stopped, laughing with her. El could feel a smile grow on her face as she got closer. They both looked up to the ceiling at the same time. “Do you think the storm will be over soon?” Holly said to her brother._

_“Yeah,” he said moving her over to sit down next to her. “Mom sent the Sinclair’s home, so I think everything should be okay.” Holly nodded her head, bouncing her dangling legs._

_“You didn’t talk under the fort tonight,” El bent down in front of the girl. Mike looked to his sister in surprise._

_“How did you know about that?”_

_“Sometimes I sit at the top.” Holly pointed past El, probably meaning the top of the stairs. “You sound sad when you talk. Who are you talking to?” Mike looked in the direction of the fort, then back at his little sister._

_“Just a friend,” Mike said. El slightly frowned. She didn’t know what he told his family about her. Most of the summer was spent in the woods, at Wills house, or by a lake where no one could see them. She didn’t really have to hide, but Hopper would rather they be out of the public eye. “Let’s get upstairs, the storms louder up there, but mom made some cookies.” Holly grew a big smile, standing and running through El, everything around her disappeared._

_She sighed, feeling her eyes tear up. She didn’t understand why that visit made her upset. She didn’t quite understand the meaning behind some of the feelings the played on Mikes face. Just a friend, they didn’t spend much time in public to know what she was to him. She didn’t know how he would introduce her to people, or what he would say if someone would ask about her. The party was good at leaving them alone while they were together._

_She stood in the water, trying to think of someone else to visit. She wanted to know where Hopper was, and in the distance she could see his truck gliding across the black water. He seemed to be on his way home; she rolled her eyes in annoyance. She could hear walking behind her, the sound startling her, since she really wasn’t thinking of anyone in particular._

_She saw Will as she turned around. He was closer than she thought he was, almost walking through her and he paced back and forth. His eyes looked sunken, his hands fidgeting in front of him. He looked to be trying to calm himself down, tears daring to spill past his eyes._

_“It’s not real,” he said to himself. “It not real, it’s not real.” El watched the boy with worry._

_“Will?” she said, wishing he could hear her. He stopped in his tracks, placing his hands over his ears._

_“None of this is real,” he said to himself. She walked closer to the boy, his breath unsteady, his body shivering._

_“Will?” his name came out as a whisper. It was a soft noise, like the breeze in the trees. She could hear it all around her, Will taking his hand from his ear, listening too._

_“Hello,” he said softly, looking past her and at something else. She turned around, only seeing black at first, before seeing the dark shadow move closer. She gasped in surprise._

She moved upward, like waking up from a bad dream. She slammed into the bottom of her bed, the door banding in the front room. She rubbed her nose, crawling from underneath her bed while unlocking the door. She could feel blood rushing out of her nose, she slipped on Hoppers blanket as she tried to stand and get up. Hopper came through the front door fast, slapping his hat against his knee to get the water off. He locked the front door, hung his hat and coat, while El tried to hide her bleeding nose in a tissue she got from her bed side table.

“I’m sorry kid,” He said turning around. He took in her appearance, as she looked to the ground. “What happened?” She shrugged her shoulders. Hopper walked closer to her, taking big strides as her took the tissue in his hand. “This doesn’t look like the regular nose bleeds.”

“I hit my nose,” she said pointing to her bed. He tilted her head back slightly to take a look; putting the tissue back under as blood continued to ooze out. She sighed in frustration, as he went to the icebox for a bag of peas.

“Well, after this nose bleed we are heading out. I thought we could stay the night at the Byers. They could use our company.” El looked down at her feet, thinking of what she had just seen of will. “Plus I’m sure the storm isn’t as loud over there.” Hopper placed the peas over her tissued nose, holding the back of her head. “What were you doing under the bed?” Hopper looked around the cabin. “Did the power go out?” EL nodded her head,

“Hiding,” she said in a muffled tone. Hopper took the peas from her face, removing the tissue to get a good look.

“From what?” He said, dabbing her nose before taking the tissue and putting it in the trash.

“Eyes,” she said, trying to think of a better description. “It felt like the storm was watching me.” She looked to Hopper with concern, thunder crashing above them. El jumped closer to the man, looking all around the room as if it was there to attack her.

“Let’s go ahead and get out of her,” Hopper said with a sigh. “I’m pretty sure the town still has power. Maybe we can get a movie set up in Joyce’s living room.” El smiled at the thought, moving fast into her room. She grabbed Mikes old backpack he had given her, throwing knew P.J’s in. She stumbled as she walked and put socks on her feet, grabbing her coat by the door and throwing her rain boots on.

“Oh,” she said as Hopper began to open the door. She went into her room, grabbing her teddy bear from under her bed covers. She stuffed it into her backpack, running back to the door to follow Hopper.

…

Will wasn’t going crazy, because none of it was real and all he had to do was remind himself that. El closed the gate a year ago, it was over. His mother even told him it was over, and the one thing he know about his life was that his mom knew what was real and what was not. If she said it was all over, then it was all over.

There was this itch in the back of his mind her couldn’t scratch. As much as he tried to ignore the thoughts, he couldn’t help but see it everywhere; a faint shadow that followed him around. It lingered out of reach, almost not visible to his vision, but if he concentrated enough he could see it. Like the Mindflair was there, watching and waiting.

There was a soft knock on his bedroom door. He stopped his pacing throughout his room, looking at the history book that sat on his bed; opening it quickly.

“Hey Will,” His mother’s tinny frame peeked from behind the door. He tried to draw the best smile on his face as he could; holding up his history book like he was in the middle of something. “Hopper called, he’s bringing El over since the storm is a little ruff out there.” Will nodding his head at his mother, she frowned at him. “Is everything okay?” As much as he tried he couldn’t help but roll his eyes.

“I’m fine mom,” He said, taking a seat on his bed. He threw his history book closed, letting out a frustrated sigh. “Just the time of year I guess.” He kicked his foot up and down on the floor, looking down slightly ashamed.

“How about,” she said, walking into his room with a smile. “We make some hot chocolate and get a movie started. That way when they get here we can all watch something together?” Will looked up at his mom, a genuine smile forming of his face. He couldn’t remember the last time they sat down like a family to watch a movie together. It had been before Bob passed away, no, since before Bob was killed.

“That’d be great,” he said, letting his mom pull him up from the bed. He towered over the woman; she looked up at him in surprise.

“Since when did you get so tall?” She asked, putting her arm around him; leading them out of the room. He put his arm around her shoulders.

“I decided I was tired of being the short one in the group.” He said with a laugh. “Although I’ll never be as tall as Mike, he’s growing like a bean stock.” His mother let out a laugh; both of them sighing in content.

He wasn’t going crazy, he knew he wasn’t, but even in moments like these he could feel it. He could feel the eyes watching through every window, the slight whisper he couldn’t quit hear in the distance. Will shook his head of the thought as his mother moved around the kitchen, grabbing the milk from the fridge, a bar of chocolate from the cupboard.

Will went to the living room to look through their VHS collection. He pulled out Dune, Sixteen Candles, and Beverly Hills Cop, placing them by the T.V. thinking he would let Hopper decide on the movie tonight. He moved the couch and chair around, making them comfortable around the T.V.

A flash of light came through the window, the roar of thunder clapping closer than he thought it would be. He jumped in the air at the noise. The lights went out, the house going completely dark. Will let a ball rise in his throat as fear went down his spine.

“Mom?” he said, moving towards the kitchen. She was nowhere to be seen. Nothing laid on the counters, like she hadn’t pulled anything out to make hot chocolate to begin with. He could feel cold seeping through the windows and the cracks of the doors, no sound of a storm playing outside. His name was being whispered from far away, and as many times as he looked around, he could find the source of the noise.

“You okay,” Will jumped at the hand on his shoulder, blinking once to see that all the lights were on. He stood in front of his mother, concern playing in her eyes, a pot on the stove, steaming. It smelt so delicious and warm, the storm still rumbled outside.

“Um,” he said in confusion. “I-I’m fine.” It was all too familiar of how it was last year, of how he would appear in the upside down, but this time he stayed here. At least what he thought was here. “The thunder just startled me a little.” He weakly smiled at the woman; she moved her hands up and down his arms to warm him up.

“You should put a sweater on sweaty, you’re freezing.” She turned back to the kitchen, taking her wooden spoon and stirring the milk. Will shook his head in confusion, because for once he didn’t feel cold, he just felt confused.

…

“Don’t eat all the cookies, okay?” Mikes mom turned the kitchen light off, fixing her robe as she moved out of the room. Mike and Nancy sat together at the breakfast table, a plate of cookies in between them. They both sat with a glass of milk, Mike dunking his cookie in while Nancy slowly nibbled on hers.

“Mom has me on the Byers watch,” Nancy said with a slight giggle. “Did you hear that her friends saw Hopper, El, and Joyce at the mall last week?” Mike rolled his eyes , annoyed that El was started to become the talk of the gossip mill in Hawkins.

“Yeah, she might of mentioned it last week.” Mike took a bite of his cookie.

“I told her I would have news for her by the end of the week. I think I’m going to let Joyce know and have her come up with a story for herself.” Mike giggled.

“That’s a good idea.”

“I was wondering though.” Nancy said putting her cookie down. “Have you told mom about El,” her tone went down to a whisper, Mike looked at his sister with his eyebrows raised.

“Why would I? I mean, I will once she gets settled, but I don’t need her telling the entire neighborhood about it. The less eyes on El the better.” Nancy nodded her head, picking her cookie back up.

“She mentioned to me today the Mrs. Brooks daughter is looking for a date to the Winter Formal. She asked me if you had any interest in girls yet.” Mike choked of his cookie, taking a sip of his milk.

“Is mom trying to set me up?” he said in disbelief.

“Something like that.” Nancy rolled her eyes at him. Mike could feel his entire face go red. Why was she trying to sell her only son on the neighborhood black market? “Oh calm down. I told her you had someone in mind. It shut her up.”

“You what,” he said raising his voice. They both looked to the hallway, waiting to hear their mother tell them to quiet down. They both sat back as nothing was said.

“Calm down Mike, you act like the world is going to fall apart. She’s just worried you won’t find anyone.”

“How nice of her,” he said sinking into his seat. “You know I could get a girl if I wanted to. I just found the right one sooner than people usually do.”

“That’s sweet Michael,” Nancy said with a smirk. “Does she know you love her so much?” Mike sank more into his seat.

“Ugh, can we change the subject, please?”

“Fine,” Nancy giggled. She took a sip of her milk, Mike played with the las bit of his cookie. “How is El by the way,” Mike rolled his eyes. “This is a different subject, I just want to know how she it.” Mike shrugged his shoulders. The question actually made him sad. He didn’t know how she was doing. With school starting, and Hopper being strict on her study habits, he didn’t know how she was. He thought about her every day, what she could be doing, what she was thinking.

“I don’t really get to hear her side of the conversation.” He said quietly. “I wish I could, but Hopper is so bent into the thought that she needs to focus on herself. I mean, I think she does too, but what does that have to do with me seeing her?”

“Maybe he thinks she needs to figure herself out before she figures out who she is with you. It’s very adult of him to do, I suppose. Relationships are big deals.” Nancy played with her cup, looking to Mike with sad eyes. “Maybe he wants you to figure yourself out too.”

“I know who I am,” Mike looked to his sister. “And I know she lacks the life experience that we do, but I want to be there when she learns them; the good and the bad.”

“And you have been,” Nancy said. “Remember during the summer when you taught her how to swim. She cried the first time, and you were there for her, by the third time at the lake she warmed up to the thought; that was because of you. Or, what about the time you convinced her she was going to learn how to read? You suffered through three Nancy Drew books with her until she said she could do it herself. You’ve been there for those moments.”

“Yeah, but now she’s reading through physics and watching Mr. Clark at Hawkins Community College. She is figuring things out, more things then I know, and I feel like I don’t even know her anymore.” There was a silence that went through them. “She knows everything about me, because she listens every night, but I don’t get to listen to her.”

“She starts school in January,” Nancy said back. “She will see you every day, people will know about her, and she’ll even be able to come over on the weekends.” Nancy stood from her seat. “I don’t know what you’re going through. I don’t know how it feels, but I just know she’s feeling the same way. I just think Hopper may have a point. All she knows is you; maybe she needs to figure herself out first.” Mike listened to his sister clean out her cup, walking up behind him and giving him a small kiss on the top of his head.

He hadn’t really said much on the subject, he didn’t really let himself think about it. Maybe she was right; maybe he had to give her space. He thought about last week, that small moment of time where they sat together in Wills room. It had felt like nothing had changed with in the three week period of them not seeing one another. It felt like they had just seen one another the day before.

Mike shook his head from the thought, grabbing his milk glass and pouring the rest of it down the drain. He looked out the window above the sink, the storm that had passed off in the distance. Thunder still heard, but far away. He wondered how she was, if she had read his note. He wondered if Hopper read it too. His cheeks went red at the thought. He had written about his day, instead of telling it to her over the Supercom. In a second thought he didn’t care if Hopper read it. There was nothing bad in it, nothing too embarrassing for the man to read.

Mike made his way to his room, soothing out his brow. He wouldn’t think about it anymore, he wouldn’t think about it tonight. For now he would sleep, he would get ready for another day of school, another day of not hearing from her.

…

“Why do people look at him so differently?” El asked Will. They sat on the couch, sharing the same blanket.

“People in Beverly Hills are very different than those from Detroit.” Will said, sinking further into the couch. “I’m sure the way the character acts is out of the ordinary as well for them.” El shook her head, understanding. She could feel her eyes drooping, forcing herself to sit up a little more so she didn’t fall asleep.

Hopper and Joyce had gone onto the porch, probably sharing a cigarette. El frowned at the thought, but tried to focus on the last half of the movie.

“I was wondering,” Will said suddenly, sitting up from the place he lay. “Have you thought about what I had said last week. About the gate and everything.” A flash of memory went past her mind. She saw Will pacing back and forth.

“I,” what should she say? She had thought about it, more than thought about it. She was dreaming weird things, feeling the chill in her bones every time she closed her eyes. “I feel weird,” she said. “I feel like there are eyes all over, like someone is watching me through the windows.” Will perk up at her words.

“Like you aren’t ever alone?” He asked her.

“I don’t know,” she said. She thought of the last week, thought about the void from early; the dark shadow in the distance. “I’ve been dreaming weird things, things I’ve never dreamed about before.” Will nodded his head, looking back to the T.V.

“Have you done anything? Anything that would open the gate again.” El quickly shook her head. She hadn’t done much since closing the gate, other than unlocking doors and changing the channels. “Do you think you might have not closed it all the way?”

“It’s closed,” she said, thinking of the smoke of the Mindflair being sucked back into the gate as she closed it. “At least, everything looked closed.” They both looked at one another. Will looked to the front door, then back to El.

“Do you think it’s still there, the tunnels and everything?” El shrugged her shoulders. She tried not to think about it, although it had been hard. She pictured the white rooms, the mirror windows, the sound of the locks as they closed the doors on her. “I guess, I would just feel better if I could see it myself.” They stayed silent for a good moment. El wondered, if the rooms were still there, if the massive hole was still in the ground.

“I think I would want to see too,” she said into the silence. “Just too really make sure.” Will smiled at her, laying back into the couch. “It’s nice to talk about it. I don’t get very many people to talk to anymore.”

“Maybe we will.” Will said into his blanket. “We can make an adventure of it.” El smiled, finding a comfortable spot on the couch again.

“Yeah, maybe we can.” She said. She watched the end of the movie, falling asleep to the credits along with Will. For the first time in a week she felt slightly warm as she drifted into another dream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a comment it you like. Thank you so much for reading!


	3. Tunnel gazing

            Mike didn’t know what to say, he mostly just wanted to push Will onto the floor in anger. Really it wasn’t Will’s fault, but he couldn’t help that he was a little jealous that his best friend got to fall asleep next to his girlfriend last night. Girlfriend? Was that what they called one another?

            Mike let out a long breath; Will took a step back knowing that his confession would run Mike red. He tried to calm himself before coming back to reality. At least Hopper took her somewhere less isolated; let her at least have a night of something more than sitting on the cabin sofa.

            “How was she?” Mike asked, looking back to the inside of his locker. He hung his backpack on the hook, taking out his morning binder along with his history book.

            “She seemed tired,” Will said; leaning onto the locker next to him. “I don’t blame her, I am too. She just seemed a little out of it, didn’t talk much, and kind of gazed out.” Mike slammed his locker shut, closing his eyes with a sigh.

            “Did she say anything about how her studies were going? Did she say anything about the next time she would be freed?” Mike hissed out. Will looked around the halls, like he was searching for the right words to be said. Mike looked into his best friend’s eyes, the dark circles becoming deeper as the days go by. He frowned at the thought.

            “Hey,” he said, getting ready to ask if he was okay, but the morning bell interrupted them. Will stood up straight from the locker, giving Mike a half a smile.

            “I’ll talk to you in French, okay?” He sped past Mike, walking quickly down the hall. Mike looked to the ceiling letting out a frustrated sign before making his way to history.

…

            El bounced up and down as she ushered Steve through the front door. She loved these days because Steve always brought the best movies, and snacks. She had a heavy debate with Dustin once that he was better than Steve at the snack bringing, but no one could ever change her mind.

            “I brought,” Steve said, placing his backpack on the table; fishing through it. “The second Indiana Jones” he pulled the VHS tap out of his bag, handing it to her to look at. “A bag of twizzlers, popcorn, and if we get really bored we can go over my college algebra homework.” El giggled, taking the popcorn into the kitchen, ripping open the plastic and shoving it in the microwave.

            “I can’t wait to watch this; I’ll finally be caught up, at least mostly caught up anyway. I still need to see Back to the Future, and the last Star Wars. Oh,” El moved quickly to her room, pulling out a few X-Men comic books from her bed side table. She handed them to Steve with a smile. “Can you deliver these to Dustin?”

            “Deliver, huh?” He said with a smirk. “We usually say “give these” deliver is a very old way of talking.” EL felt her cheeks warm up slightly.

“Oh, well then, can you give these to Dustin for me?” Steve put the Comics in his bag, throwing the candy on the couch while El put popcorn into two separate bowls. She handed one to Steve with a smile, he took it, taking one shoe off and then another.

“Now, just so you know I’ve never seen this one. You and me will both be lost,” El nodded her head, watching as Steve work with the T.V. to start the movie. They both watch the entire thing in silence. For a moment El didn’t quite follow. It had been so long since she had seen the first one that she forgot what was happening, but once she warmed up to the plot it was easy to follow.

After the movie El and Steve sat at the kitchen table, Steven struggling through his math homework, while El wrote a few paragraphs on the movie. She handed it to Steve, watching him mark a few sentences in read as he went.

“I honestly think your better at this then me,” He said with a smile. “You are doing so much better then you were at the beginning of the year, it’s crazy.” El looked down at her paper, smiling at the two spelling mistakes. She finally understood comprehension. It was easy with books because she could read it over and over until she got it, but with movies she was easily lost because everything moved so fast.

At a quarter past four El watched Steve put all his work back into his backpack, ruffling her hair in a job well done. She led him to the door, remembering what Hopper had said about manners, and the proper way to treat a guest.

“Oh,” Steve said holding up his pointer finger. He fished through his back pocket, handing her a folded up paper. “Mike searched me down this morning. He wanted me to give this to you.” El grabbed it quickly, thanking him as he walked down the steps of the porch. She watch him until he disappeared through the trees, closing the door and locking it as she opened up the note.

_Dear El,_

_I hope Hopper gave you my note from last night. I’m sorry we couldn’t talk but we had Lucas’s family over just in case something happened in the storm. I just wanted to tell you that I missed you, and that I feel so dumb for not thinking about giving you a note before._

_I really need Hopper to let me over soon. I have a question I need to ask you, but I want to do it in person. I feel like it’s something that should be written down in a note. If you can try to convince him maybe it will work. I’ve been going to his office on and off, but he doesn’t seem to budge with me. I might have to move to drastic measures for him to say yes._

_Anyway, I hope you’re doing well. I also hope to see you soon, but until then I will be there, tonight at seven. So, I hope you’ll be there too._

_Mike_

El smiled at the note, holding it to her chest. She folded it up carefully, walking into her room and placing it in the top draw of her dresser. Hopper had never given her a note, which now made sense as to why he was sitting with Lucas last night. She could feel a slight anger boil up her throat at the thought. She would talk to Hop about it when he got home, he probably just forgot as they tried making their way to the Byers.

El grabbed _The Hobbit_ from her bed side. She and Hopper had finished it last Friday, but she wanted to read it through by herself. She remembered Will and Lucas going on about various creatures throughout the book, and she wanted to make herself more familiar with the world. She took a seat in front of the fire, opening the book with a smile.

…

“Why must this be so complicated,” Mike said softly. He and Will had pulled their desks together, Will writing down his fifth sentence while Mike was still struggling with his first.

“Because you can’t think when you frustrated,” Will said. He put down his pencil, looking to Mike.

“I just don’t get it; no matter how many times she says everything slowly, it still just sounds like a bunch of vowels thrown together.” Mike put his pencil down; he looked around the class room. Will looked to the front of the class, the teacher stood over a cluster of tables, the group looking at her in confusion and she said the instructions again in French. “How are we supposed to learn anything if we don’t understand what she’s saying in the first place?” Will nodded his head.

“I don’t know,” he said shrugging his shoulders. “I guess I was a French man in my past life,” they both laughed at one another; trying to keep their voices down while everyone around them worked.

“I wanted to ask,” Mike said slowly as their laughs died down, “how you were doing? You haven’t said much since what happened last week.” Will looked down at his paper. He really wanted to tell Mike, he wanted to tell someone about the constant feeling that kept him awake at night; the haunting thoughts of being possessed.

“I don’t know,” Will stumbled with his words. They both leaned closer, Will whispered. “I kind of feel like I’m going crazy; like something is constantly watching me.” He looked behind him, the line of windows along the wall bringing in the bright sun light. “It’s like it’s waiting for something,” he said turning back to Mike. “Like it’s still there, getting ready for something big.”

                “Comment allons nous?” Mike and Will both jumped apart. Their teacher stood over their tables, he hands rested on her hips waiting for an answer.

                “ummm,” Mike stuttered looking for the right word to say.

                “Bien,” Will said with a smile. Their teacher nodded her head, moving on to the next group of tables. Will laughed at his friend. “You really need to catch up,” he said through a gasp of air.

                “Yeah, yeah,” Mike said with a smile. The both grew quiet, Will played with his pencil, looking back to the windows.

                “Did you talk to El again?” Mike asked, bringing Will back to the conversation. He didn’t know what to say, mostly because it seemed like something had been bother her as well. Maybe she didn’t want anyone to know, it wasn’t his business to share.

                “I told her,” he admitted. “But she didn’t really say much about it.” Mike nodded his head slowly, frowning down at his paper. “ She misses you though.”

                “Did she say?”

                “She doesn’t have to,” Will said back. “I can just tell.” Will looked back down at his paper, debating on what he should write down next. It was always easier to focus on school when he had something else happening in life. When his mom and dad would fight it would just escape into his homework, reading his biology book from front to back.

                “Do you know, if she got my note yesterday?” Will looked up confused.

                “She didn’t say anything,” he said. Mike slowly nodded his head; thinking.

…

                Hopper sat in the truck, the heater blasting as Joyce went through the folder one more time. He looked up at the house they were parked in front of, the blue paint chipping, the grass over grown. Joyce and Hopper had been debating on a house in a neighborhood or a house just slightly out on its own. They didn’t know if something would happen, what if El had an episode of some sort; they needed a place to hide their secrets.

                “I know it looks rough,” Joyce said closing the folder, “but, I’m sure we could negotiate a good deal. Maybe the kids would have fun cleaning it up, painting the outside, and even their rooms?” Hopper drummed his thumbs on the steering wheel, look from the house to her.

“Well,” he said to her. “Let’s take a look inside, make sure pipes, wires, and all that stuff is looking good. If it is then I’m sure we could get a good price for it.” Joyce smiled big, pulling a key from her purse and holding it up.

                “I’ll race you there,” she giggled, jumping out the truck. Hopper shook his head, turning the truck off. He jogged after her; the long side walk slightly crumbling. Joyce jumped up the squeaky steps, touching the door with a laugh. “I win,” she said out of breath, as he slowly made his way up the steps. “This is it, once I open this door it is either yes or no.” She fit the key into the door, swinging it back into a large front room, a staircase sitting in the middle of it; the banisters dusty.

                “Wow,” Hopper and Joyce said at the same time. They took a step through the door.

                “Way bigger than I thought it was,” Joyce said, taking a step up the grand staircase. Hopper walked over, testing the banister to see if it wobbled; it didn’t.

                “I don’t think I’ve even seen something so grand in Hawkins.” Hopper said “I didn’t even know this place existed. How did you find it?”

                “Well, I was roaming the town, going from open house to open house, when Debra Write let me know about this place. She gave me the paper work, and the key, told me to let her know what I think.”

“And did she ask why you were looking for a house so big, or where you got the money from?”

“I just told her I was looking for now.” Hopper rolled his eyes with a laugh. “I know their talking about me behind my back, Nancy told me her mom has been asking questions, but it’s none of their business. It’s only our business.”

“And what do you think they’ll say when we move in together?” Hopper looked at her with a smirk.

“Just, give us this one moment.” Joyce said moving closer to him, she got on the second step to be eye level. Hopper laughed as she put her arms around his shoulder.

“So,” Hopper said to the smiling woman. “Show me this house.” She proceeded to stomp up the steps, dragging her hands across the railings in amazement.

…

“Look man, I don’t know what to say. He hasn’t been in all day.” Mike rolled his eyes at Steve, who sat at the front desk of the police station, one foot up on the table, a twizzler hanging out of his mouth.

“Has he been home all day?”

“Oh no,” Steve said sitting up straight, taking his leg off the desk. “I was actually there today. We watched a movie; I helped her with writing down what she understood from it.” Mike shook his head in anger, before looking back at Steve.

“So he hasn’t been there all day?” He asked him again.

“No,” Steve said annoyed. “I literally just left from there. He hasn’t been there all day. He should be coming back soon though; he still has some work to finish up on.” Mike face grew into a big smile.

“Perfect,” He said, walking to the front doors.

“Hey,” Steve yelled. “Don’t get caught you dumb ass!” Mike grabbed his bike from the side of the building. The sky was getting darker earlier now, but he didn’t care. Today he was going to see her, because he was tired of wondering how she was, he wanted to know.

He peddled through the square, the air chilling his ears and nose as he went. He flew past Mirkwood, and onto the side of the highway, checking both ways before disappearing into the forest. He walked his bike for five minutes; hiding it behind a bush, before continuing. It had almost been two months since he had set foot in the cabin, he wondered if she had changed her room, or if she had taken down the drawings they had made together that past summer.

He stood at the bottom of the steps, looking up at the small cabin; no lights had been turned on yet, even though the sky was getting dark. He took slow steps up, raising his hand to knock on the door, only to have the locks open before he could. He slowly opened the door in surprise.

“You said seven-thirty,” El’s voice yelled from her room. Mike took a tentative step inside, looking at the small space. Nothing had changed. “I swear I ate those vegetables,” El stopped in her tracks coming out of her room; looking to Mike with a smile. “What?” She ran to him, jumping into her arms.

“You didn’t even let me knock,” he said hugging her back. “I could have been a robber or something.” El giggled, pulling back to look up at his face.

“I’m not scared of robbers,” she said with a smile. “They should be scared of me.” Mike laughed, closing the door before the frost got inside.

“Hopper doesn’t know I’m here,” He said, taking her hands into his. She was so much warmer than he was. She rubbed her hands against his to make them warm, something he had taught her last year while waiting for his mom outside of the Snow Ball. She guided him to the small furnace; sitting down in front of the fire.

“I got your note,” she said with a smile, “But I didn’t get the other one. I think Hopper forgot.” Mike tried to nod his head, not knowing where to take the conversation from there. He had so much he wanted to ask her, what she was reading, how her writing was going, did she like hanging out with Will? He shook his head at the last question, trying to focus on the real reason that he was there; that question he wrote that he wanted to ask her.

“My mom has this idea in her head that she’s going to set me up with some girl to go to the Winter Formal with,” He let out a small laugh even though he wasn’t really smiling.

“Winter Formal?” El asked. Even with all the schooling in the world it was small things like this she had no idea about.

“Yeah,” he said with a smile. “The winter formal is like the Snow Ball, but for high school. You dress up and dance, and they bring out the football team on stage, even though they suck and lost almost every game this season.” El frowned, trying to hide it by looking away. “But,” he said pulling her hand to get her attention back, “I don’t want to go with a girl that my mom sets me up with. That’s weird, plus I have you. I was wondering if you wanted to go with me, together. I mean you would have to ask Hopper, but I’m sure if he let you go to the Snow Ball after everything that’s happened, then this dance shouldn’t be a problem.” He could see her face spread with warmth, her smile growing bigger and bigger. “Plus you’ll be starting school there anyways so you should integrate. What you really should be doing is going out more,” El rolled her eyes at his words.

“I wish I could go out more,” she said softly. “I miss the summer. It wasn’t as lonely.” Mike could feel his blood run warm at her words. He could feel himself get to that anger that his mother said he needed to get a handle on, but this wasn’t fare. She didn’t want to be here anymore, she was ready for school, and she was ready for the real world.

“I-I,” he tried to get some form of word out but he couldn’t. El got onto her knees, turning her body fully to him; grabbing his hands.

“He’s just scared,” El said. “We had promised,” He watched as she searched for her own words. “No black holes, I know he’s not doing it on purpose.” They both sat in silence. Mike looked around the room, everything dark as the sun disappeared. El put her hand to her heart. “I feel,” she looked around the room, unsure of her own words. “Unsafe, like someone is watching?”

“What do you mean,” Mike could feel his stomach drop. He thought of Will, of what he had said and how he had felt.

“Maybe PTSD,” she said sitting down on her butt again next to him. “It’s probably nothing.”

“But what if it’s not,” Mike looked into the fire. The echoes of Bobs cry ringing in his mind. He didn’t see what had happened to the man, but the noise was enough to haunt him forever. “Do you think maybe something happened? Maybe the gate opened somehow, maybe the Mindflair is still trying to get to Will.” He let his mind run through the thought. “But they tore down the lab,” Mike looked to El, her face glowing in the small fire. Her hair ran past her shoulders, her facial feature a little more mature.

“It’s nothing,” she said looking to him. He looked through her eye but couldn’t find any emotion. “It’s my mind,” She squinted her eyes, looking away to find the words. “It plays tricks on me?” she questioned herself. Mike nodded his head.

“Your mind is playing tricks on you,” he said back to her. “One day it will just be a memory, and not a fear.” He said to her. He thought about his fear of clowns in the second grade, now just a memory.

“Promise?” she asked quietly.

“I promise,” he said to her with a smirk. “So,” he began. “Tell me everything you’ve been doing. What are you learning? What are you reading? How was Dustin’s comic books?” El smiled at his questions. He grabbed her hand as she began to talk. He listened to every word she had to say keeping his eye on the time, to make sure he didn’t get caught.

…

Hopper was only ten minutes late today, and he patted himself on the back for that. He gathered all the papers that sat in the passenger seat and set them onto the dash board; organizing the car before heading to the cabin. He walked up the steps, knocking on the door. He listened to the locks releasing fast, opening the door with a huff of cold air. He was excited, but he was nervous.

“Hey El?” he yelled as he looked to her closed bedroom door. He looked over to the clock, 7:45. She was probably talking to Mike, or at least watching as he talked to her. He walked over to her door, softly knocking. She opened the door with her mind, sitting on the bed with a book open. “Hey,” he said with a smile. “I kind of have a surprise. Do you want to put your shoes on? Maybe get a coat?” El looked at him in confusion.

“Where are we going?” she asked, closing her book and moving off the bed. She looked down at her pajamas. “Change?” Hopper gave her a playful glare hopping she would complete that sentence. “Do I have to change,” she said moving to her dresser, rolling her eyes with a smile.

“Nah,” he said. “We’re just going to the Byers. Plus they will probably be dressed the same anyway.”

“Pajama party,” she said under her breath with a slight smile. He chuckled as she moved past him, pulling on some shoes at the front door. He went and put out the fire, looking around the small home to make sure everything was safe before they left. He spotted three glasses in the sink, three that hadn’t been there that morning. El watched him as she buttoned up her jacket, following his gaze.

“Steve came over today,” she said softly. Hopper had forgotten the boy was coming. He could feel his suspicion fade walking to the front door. “We watch Indian Jones,” she said with a smile. He ushered her to the car, listening to what she had to say about the movie. She stuttered over a few words, moving  into how she’s rereading The Hobbit. Hopper nodded his head the entire time, looking to the papers that sat on the dash board.

When they arrived at the Byers, Joyce offered some coffee, Hopper sat with the boys and El in the living room while she made it. Hopper played with the papers in his hands, listening to Will and El talk while Jonathan just looked at Hopper. He could feel the nerves pouring out of this chest, his stomach jumping to his throat as Jonathan opened his mouth.

“So,” he said, sitting back in his seat on the couch. “How’s working at the station going?” Out of anything the boy could ask, Hopper wasn’t expecting that question.

“Umm, good. It’s been pretty quiet in town, which is good news for, you know, everything.” El looked to him as Will continued to speak. “For a while there I thought we wouldn’t be in the clear, but as soon as they started setting up that mall things kind of died down. Except, you know, the protesting and all that.” Jonathan nodded his head. Joyce walked in with three coffees, two other mugs topped with whip cream.

“Okay,” she said playing them on the coffee table. “Two hot chocolates, and three black coffees. Now,” she clapped her hands in excitement. “I think you guys are wondering why we brought you all together tonight.” Everyone looked to the mugs on the table, then at the both of them. Hopper watched as El looked back a forth in confusion. “There is a house,” Joyce said slowly.

“We wanted to know if this house was something you guys would be comfortable living in,” Hopper blurted out.

“Like moving?” El asked sitting up a little straighter. The boys looked at one another.

“Yeah, we would all live together.” Hopper took the papers he had been slightly crumbling in his hands; handing them to Jonathan to pass around. “Four bedrooms, close to school, big yard.” Hopper listed. “Away from other homes, you know, isolated just in case.” El looked to him with a nod, leaning over Will to look at the papers Jonathan had.

“It needs some work,” Joyce said looking at her boys. “And, I know you’ve lived here all your life, but so much has happened. I just, I need a new start.” Jonathan looked up at his mother, and then over to Hopper. He braced himself for what he was going to say.

“This is great mom,” he smiled. “As long as it’s not too much.” Both Hopper and Joyce looked to each other. She smiled, looking back at her boys.

“It’s perfect,” she moved to the couch, sitting on the armrest next to them. “You can paint your own rooms, the floors are old wood, and the windows,” she smiled wide. “There are so many windows, the sun comes through just right.”

“It’s bright?” El asked.

“Real bright kid,” Hopper said back. He grabbed a mug of coffee from the table, El grabbing her hot chocolate.

“How do we choose a color?” She thought for a moment. “For my room, how would we find a color?”

“What colors do you like?” Will asked, smiling big.“I want like a light blue, or maybe a green.”

“Maybe I’ll do black,” Jonathan said, looking to Will.

“Black?” His brother questioned him.

“Yeah, a nice aesthetic to all the picture I have hung on my walls.” Will nodded his head, looking to El.

“What your favorite color El?” She looked at the boy, deep in thought. She looked around the room as if that would give her an answer.

“Maybe yellow,” she said looking to Hopper. He thought of all the things she’s owned, of all the things he had ever gotten her. He had never seen her with anything yellow, and suddenly he felt guilty for not asking that question sooner. He thought about all the other simple questions she should know about herself, if she had a favorite song, or if she had a favorite anything.

“We can go to the hardware store, they have samples to look at there.” He said to her with a smile. His nerve disappeared as he took a warm sip of his coffee. He looked over to Jonathan, a smile playing on his face as Joyce pointed things out from the papers.

“I will go with you?” she asked with a surprised grin.

“Yeah,” he said with a laugh. He thought of the short conversation he had with Joyce that morning, integration was what she had repeated over and over. He thought about Mike, his angered eyes over the weeks of coming to his office to be told no. “You can come with me tomorrow if you want.” He took another sip as she brought her mug to her smiling lips. She whipped her nose of the whip cream with her jacket sleeve.

…

“I don’t care if it takes you all night,” his mom said with anger. “You will polish the silver until your thumbs go sore.” Mike rolled his eyes. He didn’t mean to be so late, and he didn’t mean to completely forget to let his mom know he was going to be out. He sat at the kitchen table, the silver sitting in front of him as he polished ever fork, knife, and spoon.

“I said I was sorry,” he said back to her. He threw a spoon in the organized caddy.

“Where were you?” She said, bringing her mug of tea, and taking her seat in front of him. “You nearly missed dinner. With everything that’s happened,” she stopped what she was about to say. “You know better than just disappear like that.”

“I know,” he said picking up a fork with a frown. He thought about all the French homework he had, giving a slight sigh. “I went to go ask someone something.” His mom raised her eyebrows at him.

“And who was this someone,” she played with the string of her tea bag, bouncing up and down as she watched him.

“It was no one,” he said quickly.

“Is it that girl the boys tease you about?”

“Are you listening to our conversation,” Mike asked in anger. He thought about all the things said in the basement while they played D&D. He could feel his cheeks go red.

“Every once and a while when the door is open, I hear something.” Mike thought about it. She didn’t really need to know who it was; he could just make it vague. His mother was nosy though, a small description wouldn’t suffice. Then again he could be talking about anyone, she didn’t have to know.

“I went to ask a girl to the Winter Formal,” he mumbled, dropping a clean knife into the tray. He mom sat up slightly.

“As in a real girl?” she asked. Mike stopped at looked at her, his mouth agape.

“What other kind of girl is there?” he asked with anger. He growled slightly, snatching up a fork in discussed.

“Well, sometimes I wonder.” Mike stopped, looking at his mom, she took a sip from her tea, looking around the room.

“Seriously?” he asked. “I’m not gay mom,” he said loudly, his mom almost spitting out her tea. “And if I was, so what?”

“Shhh,” she said looking into the living room. Ted let out a snort in his sleep. She looked back to her son, letting out a sigh. “Who is this girl?”

“Just a girl mom,” he dropped the fork into the tray, taking a side glance at the woman.

“Well,” his mother persisted. “What did she say,” she nearly whispered. Mike could feel his cheeks brighten, sinking slightly in his seat as he began to polish another knife.

“She said yes,” he mumbled. “She’s asking her dad, but she said yes.” His mom took in a breath of surprise. “And I’m not doing pictures.” Mike said looking up at her. She frowned at him. “I’m serious, please mom. I can’t handle pictures.” It was her turn to roll her eyes.

“We’ll see,” she said taking another sip from her tea. She stood from her seat, pushing the chair into the table. “All the silver,” she pointed to him, before leaving the room. He wouldn’t have changed it; honestly cleaning the silver was way better than doing the gutters, or organizing the garage. For just this moment, what he had been craving, was that feeling of normal. As if he didn’t have to worry about the next time he say her, or about what would happen if someone had found her. In this moment he played their hour and a half together. He heard her voice talking in his head as if she were there.

For just this moment he felt slightly light because he got to be with her; even if it was a short period of time.

…

El was beginning to think that Will’s couch was way more comfortable than her bed. She sat on the couch with a blanket, her eyes glued to the T.V. She watched as cars speed past the screen, looking at  Will sitting in the chair, a text book open in his lap. His eyes seemed to be glazed over, his thoughts nowhere near what he was studying.

She looked out the living room window, the new pain of glass a bit more gloss then the other ones. She pictured the small monster she threw through the window, the sound of its neck breaking as she did it. It made her think of the time, being thrown into that copper walled room. She hadn’t meant to do it, but she just couldn’t take it anymore, she didn’t want to sit in the dark, she didn’t want to be without a bed.

The past few nights had been a reminder, of all the things she had done. Dreams of being locked away in the room, of seeing her mother. If it wasn’t for her, her mother might have been fine. If it wasn’t for her Will wouldn’t be so scared to live. She could feel her stomach drop slightly at the thought, not sure where it had come from.

She was tired of being scared too. She was tired of not being able to drop that feeling, like something hid behind the walls of the cabin, behind a tree in the forest. Like something is watching her, hiding from her so she couldn’t really see it, just feel it.

“I was thinking,” Will said, pulling her out of her thoughts. She blinked at the T.V. realizing she had gazed out as well. “I feel it, and I know you do too. I can see it in your tired eyes.” El looked to him. She brought her hand up to her eye, almost feeling the darkness seeping from under her skin.

“I’ve been having weird dreams,” she admitted.

“Me too,” Will said. “And when I’m awake, it’s like I can almost hear it. Like its yelling from really far away, I can’t understand what it’s trying to say.” El played with the fabric on her blanket. She didn’t really know what to say, or what he was thinking. They had talked, last night, about seeing it, making sure it was really gone.

“Max,” Well said closing his book. He took in a steady breath, looking to the kitchen, but Hopper and Joyce had stepped outside for a little bit. Will stood, moving to sit next to her on the couch. “Max, her stepbrother is the security guard at the mall. Maybe we can see if he could get us in when it’s not open.”

“Break in?” It wouldn’t be the first time El had done something this reckless. She thought about her sister. She had yet to tell anyone the truth about where she had gone.

“It wouldn’t be breaking in if we’re let in. Plus, now that Max threatened him she can convince him to get us in there.” Will gave a small smile. She had never heard of Will doing anything bad in his life. Everyone called him Will The Wise, and now she was starting to think wise meant something else then the definition she had learned.

“We would be fast?” She looked back to the kitchen, scared the Hopper was standing over her shoulder as they talked.

“As fast as we can,” Will looked to the T.V.; thinking. “I would assume that we could get into the back, where all the workers go, through the doors of the food court.” He scratched his forehead. “I just have to look,” he said looking into her eyes. “Please, just come with me to look. Through every door.” EL thought for a moment. She was really trying to be the best person she could be for Hopper. They had promised one another, no black holes. But, she could feel it too; this cold touch that would sit at her core, nagging her every day.

“When do we go?” Will slowly gave her a big smile.

“I’ll talk to Max tomorrow. I overheard Hopper tell my mom they were going on a date tomorrow, to celebrate the house. The mall closes at ten, and if I know Hopper and my mom, I would say they won’t be home until late.” El nodded her head. She thought about Mike, should they tell him?

“Mike, what should we tell him? What should we tell the other?”

“No,” Will said quickly. “Let’s just, keep it to ourselves for right now.” El felt something grow in the pit of her stomach. There it was, the black hole starting to form. “Max will know, she’ll have to get us in, but I don’t want to tell the others yet.” Will frowned looking down at his hands. “They stare at me, like I’m broken.” Mike had done the same, just hours before, when she said she was scared. She had almost told him then, but with the sadness in his eyes she couldn’t bring herself to do it.

“If there’s something we tell,” she said. “If there’s nothing, then they don’t need to know about it.” Will extended his hand, nodding his head. El had only shaken one hand before, and that was the second time meeting Max; when she had apologized for being so mean. El took it, both squeezing tightly as they shook one another’s hands.

“Tomorrow,” Will stood from his seat, going back to his homework. El looked back at the T.V., a commercial for dishwasher soap played. She tried to imagine what it would look like, the gate glowing red as the shadow grew bigger and bigger from the other side. She pictured alien like dogs, their flower mouths tearing her apart.

“Hey El,” El jump from her seat, Hopper standing in the door way of the kitchen. “Get your shoes on, we’re going to head out.” El looked at the man, trying to remember what it had felt like when he carried her through the doors after she had closed the gate. What if she had to do it again? She tried to push the thought down as she stood, moving slowly to get her shoes. She watched as Will slowly closed his book, standing with his mom at the front door as they left, giving her a small nod before she turned to leave.

…

“I think we can all admit that you suck at storytelling,” Max said, opening her locker next to Mike. Dustin scoft.

“Excuse me?” Dustin said. Max laughed, Mike giving a smile.

“I might have to agree with her,” Mike said, closing his locker door. “Every time you tell the story of trying to punch Danny Salcalenzki in fifth grade, you forget to tell the part when he punched you harder.” Max busted out with a laugh, Dustin looked at him with a nasty glare.

“Who broke the boy?” Lucas said, giving Max a kiss on the check, looking from Dustin the Mike.

“Hey Max,” Mike jumped almost out of his shoes; Will came up from behind him. Everyone quieted down, looking to him. “Can I talk to you before lunch?” Will glanced at Mike quickly, then back to Max.

“Sure,” she said, handing Lucas he brown paper lunch bag. “Shave me seat, we’ll be right there.” They all watched as the two walked down the hall, making their way to the back door of the school.

“That was weird right?” Dustin asked.

“Kind of,” Lucas said. Mike watch Will hold the door open for her, thinking about the conversation he had with El last night, _I feel, unsafe_. Is that what Will was thinking too?

“Let’s go find seats before the cafeteria gets too crowded,” Mike said, turning his back to the door.

“Yeah,” Lucas said, Dustin following close behind.

…

El stood with Will at the front door, watching as Hopper and Joyce drove away. Will looked down at his watch, El let out a calming breath as she closed the door. She could feel her feet run cold, her hands getting clamy as Will took a seat on the couch. She pulled paint splotches from her back pocket from their morning at the hardware store.

“Jonathan is with Nancy for most of the night, our parents are going to a bar; I listened in on their conversation, and we have two hours before the mall closes, three hours before we leave. Max should be getting here soon. “ El nodded her head, not sure what to say. Will sat with a backpack at his feet, tapping his hands on his knees.

“You don’t do bad things,” she said to him slowly. “I can’t help but do bad things sometimes.” Will looked to her, confusion in his eyes. “I am trying to be better.”

“For once,”  Will said, standing from his seat. “I would like to be the hero, and not the victim.” They both let silence hang in the air. “If I can figure out what’s going on with me, if I can get ahead of this, then maybe I can fix it. Maybe I can go back to normal, just seeing that nothing is there.”

“I understand,” El said. She moved away from the door, looking around the room, at the small details she never really paid attention to. Just in the corner, far from where she stood, she could see a red stain on the wall; one that had been there since that night. She looked to the window, the one that was newly placed by Hopper a year ago. “I would like to do better,  than what I’ve done.” She said.

They sat for a while, the T.V. on but neither of them paying attention. El looked down at the paint colors, different shades of yellow. El was sure Will was psyching himself out, she watched him bounce his knee up and down, he picked at his nails for a moment, he was about to stand in pace if Max hadn’t shown up.

“Sorry I’m late,” Max said coming through the front door. She gave a nod to Will as he closed the door behind her, a small smile to El. “My mom had like a million question, I finally told her I was having a slumber party with another girl. She about flipped when I said that.” Max rolled her eyes, taking her backpack off and setting it at her feet. “So, what’s the plan?” Will looked down at his watch.

“We leave in like thirty minutes,” Will said. “Or maybe a little earlier since we’ll be biking.” Max nodded her head.

“I have flash lights,” Max began; “also,” she unzipped her bag, pushing a few things aside before pulling out a red gun. “My stepdads flare gun.” El and Will both looked at her in confusion. “What? I didn’t have a real weapon and this was the closest thing I could find.”

“Hopefully we won’t need it.” Will said back to her.

“I’m your weapon,” El said, grabbing Wills bag from the floor. “I want to leave now, I’m tired of waiting.” It was true, she grew tired of sitting on the couch, and she wanted to get this over with.

“My brothers already there,” Max said dryly. “Might as well leave, the mall closed almost an hour ago.” Will took his bag from El, looking around the living room one last time before walking to the front door.

“Let’s do this,” Will said, ushering the girls out of his house. She could feel the cold of the night seeping through her. She welcomed it, as they made their field trip to the gate.

…

Will tried to ignore the itch at the back of his mind. Someone was talking, someone far away, and he couldn’t tell what they were saying. Max stood at the large front doors of the mall, muttering an argument with her stepbrother Billy. He finally rolled his eyes, forcefully opening the door for her. Will led El inside, both of them looking around the dark walk ways of the mall.

“I swear Maxine; if you’re not out of her in ten I’m breaking every bone in your body.” Billy said. He didn’t look as scary with his security uniform on, his hair no longer long. Max rolled her eyes at him, starting to walk away from the doors. Will followed, fear growing in him from being so close to the guy.

“Don’t worry,” Max said walking backwards. “We’re here for Steve; he left something in his work locker.” Billy huffed a small laugh.

“Right,” he said under his breath, hanging a left as they took a right. Max took a flashlight out of her backpack, handing one to El, Will did the same.

“I think we can start at the food court,” Max said. “I’m sure they have lockers back there or something, offices for management. That’s the only place I could think of.”

“Okay,” El said quietly, looking through the windows of the stores as they went. Will turned his flashlight on, looking through the windows with El. “The fake people,” El said looking to him. “They were wearing different things last week.” Will squinted through the window.

“You mean the mannequins?” He asked her. She looked at him like he was speaking a different language. “It’s what they call those fake people. They dress them up to show people outfits and stuff. They change them all the time.” El nodded her head slowly.

“Come on slow pokes,” Max said softly. “We’re almost there.” Will checked his watch. They had thirty minutes before they really had to worry about leaving. He predicted his mom would be home by at least 12:30. That would give them thirty minutes to get home and back into their P.J.’s.

The food court looked spooky without all the neon lights on. They all looked around, looking for a door.

“There,” Max said, pointing her flash light at two white doors. They were in-between the McDonalds, and Smoothie Hut. Will slowly moved forward, Max and El right behind him. He tested the metal door knob; locked. He breathed out, _now what?_ He heard a click, the door knob slowly turned on its own, the door opening by its self. He turned to look at El. She gave him the small smile. “Remind me to bring you to any breaking in event.” Max said with a smile. She moved through the door first, El looking proud and following her. Will looked at the space behind him, trying to lock eyes with something, but not finding a soul in sight. He followed the girls, closing the door behind him.

“Lots of doors,” El said. The hall was long, walls and floors all white. The lights were dimmed, only a few over head lights on. Max dug through her pocket, pulling out a hair pin.

“I take left you take right?” El nodded her head, moving to the first door on the right and opening it with her mind. Will followed both of the girls, feeling slightly useless as they  did all the work. El moved faster than Max, making her way to the second to last door, before Max whispered, “Stairs.” They both turned to look at her, she stood in front of an open door, a dark set of stairs going down. El let out a disappointed sigh, looking down into the dark.

“Lab stairs,” she said, taking a small step in. “I remember the rails,” she put her hands on them, looking back at them.

“It took me a while to open this door,” she pulled the door to show Will the lock. “Two locks on this one, there’s only one for all the other doors.” Will could feel his world spinning and his stomach dropping. Why was this happening? Why did this keep happening to him?

“I’m going to look,” EL said. Max shinned her flash light down the stairs. El started moving down.

“Well, this is what we’re here for,” Max said moving past him. All the sudden he felt like this was a bad idea. He felt like he shouldn’t go down there, like he wasn’t allowed to see what they were hiding. He could feel it, the chill moving in from the bottom, moving into the hall way where he stood. He looked left then right; looking at his watch. They only had ten minutes, ten minutes to figure out what was really going on. The girls had already left; he had no choice but to follow.

…

They had torn down the lab, that’s what Hopper had told her. They tore it down and put this mall in its place. Yet as she walked down the two flights of stairs, unlocked the door at the bottom and took a second before opening it. She tried to mentally kick herself in the face because she was naive enough to believe for a year that this was all over. She opened the door, a dark hall way greeting her. She could feel a cold breeze move past her, the walls reminding her of her old life; the life that she lived not too long ago.

“I guess we have some sort of answer,” Max said. El moved into the hall way, her two friends following closely behind. She looked to Will, his face growing pale as she searched through the darkness. She felt like she was going to be sick herself. She could hear it, her own screams as she was dragged through this hall way, the cry for Pappa as they threw her through the door.

She could see it, at the very end. The door was shut, alone from any other room on the floor. She turned the other way, seeing a metal beat up door at the very end. She could feel the warm salt water cover her skin as she thought about the tank, about being in the void. She didn’t know she was moving, she didn’t know how badly she wanted to look, but as she opened the door, walking into the large cold room, she realized this was it.

The room, the glass walls torn down, the room redone from the last time she had seen it. Metal walk ways led to the large hole in the ground, the space where the gate had been. They were still here, they were still working, watching and waiting for it to happen again. She took a slow step into the room, moving up the short steps of the walk way, moving to the large hole. She looked down into the darkness, a metal lift standing in front of her. It was like the one they had used, the one that she had fallen onto after she had closed it.

“Shit,” Max said from right behind her. “Holy shit, I don’t think we should be here,” She said with a hint of fear in her voice. El found herself nodding in agreement, Will giving a quiet _yeah_ from behind. She stared at the lift.

“We need to go,” Will said, he looked down at his watch and then back to them. “Our parents could be home any minute. I think we got enough answers for tonight.”

“Billy’s probably looking for us,” Max said.

“You go,” El found herself saying. “I-I,” she looked for the right words; turning away from the lift. “I’m going down,” she said. “I want to look.”

“Our parents,” Will protested.

“I don’t care,” El said. She could feel anger fill her. “I’m tired of hiding, aren’t you?” They both stared at one another, Max looking in between them.

“I’m going,” Max said, opening the metal gate of the lift, walking in. “If you’re going down, I’m coming with you.” El smiled at her, looking back to Will. He looked behind him, dancing his fingers on his jeans with nerves.

She didn’t wait for him, moving into the lift with Max. Max grabbed a remote handing from the top of the cage, a red button in the middle.

“Wait,” Will said, moving to the lift, stepping inside; looking down. “We don’t stay long.” Max closed the cage with a smile, pressing the red button; causing the entire thing to jolt.

“I think it’s a little late for that,” she said with a smile.

…

“I’m going to say this one more time,” Hopper said. He stood on the pouch of the Wheeler house hold, Mike standing  tall enough to match his eye line. He stood in his P.J.’s, his arms crossed to the cold. “Where are they?”

“I’m going to say this one more time,” Mike said with attitude. “I – don’t’ – know. Do you think I would be standing here if my girlfriend was in my basement?” Hopper could feel fire grow in his chest. Mikes face fell. “That’s not what I meant,” he said quietly.

“You’re about five seconds from sitting in the back of my police cruiser.”

“On what grounds?” Mike said. “I don’t know where they are, or why they thought it would be a good idea to leave. Just let me change and I’ll come looking with you.” Hopper could feel his eyes roll. He looked to his car, Joyce sitting in the passenger seat, her head in her hands trying not to worry.

“Have they been talking about going somewhere, have they told you anything that would make you think that they wanted to leave?” Mike sat and thought. Will had been weird that morning, and after talking to Max she had been too.

“Well, I haven’t been able to talk to El,” he said looking to Hopper. “Maybe if you let me around more I would know.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Hopper tried to massage the migraine forming between his eyes. “What about Will?”

“Will doesn’t talk much,” he said. Mike looked to his car, leaning closer to Hopper. “He’s been acting weird,” he whispered. “He feels like something is still watching him.” Hopper stared at the kid, trying to think of a logical explanation. The gate was closed, the lab torn down.

“PTSD,” he said looking back at Joyce. They went out for drinks, and everything finally felt normal. “The lab is gone; I haven’t seen any suspicious guys lurking around. Trust me I’ve been looking.”

“I don’t think its guys from the lab he’s worried about.” Hopper put his hands on his hips.

“She closed the gate. It would make no sense for that thing to still be here. I watched it happen.” They sat in silence for a moment, trying to gather their thoughts.

“Don’t get mad,” Mike said look to him. “But I saw El yesterday; after school.” Hopper processed the words he was saying to him. “She told me, that she felt unsafe. I could see it in her eyes, but then,” Mike stopped looking off in the distance. “What if something is out there?” Hopper let out a sigh. As much as he wanted to punch the kid, he had a point. “Why don’t you let me see her Hop?” Mike asked, the boy looked at him with defeat. “She would have told me sooner, if I was there for her, but you wouldn’t let me.” He didn’t have time for this. He didn’t have time to argue with him again.

“She needs to learn, that not everything revolves around you. She can’t make you her world.” He poked Mike in the chest. “I get it, I do, but the both of you are young and more likely to make a mistake and I’m not going to let that happen.” Silence ran over them with a cold chill. “Get some clothes on; meet me down her in five.” He turned away from Mike, listening to him open and closed the door quickly. He made his way to his truck.

“What did he say?” Joyce said, “Does he know anything?” Hopper shut the car door with a slam.

“He said he hasn’t heard anything from Will, he doesn’t know why they would leave to go anywhere.” Joyce deflated in her seat.

“I can’t do this anymore,” she said. “I can’t do this. It’s like I’m constantly standing on thin ice, watching the cracks form around me. I can’t move, or breathe.”

“We’re going to find them,” Hopper said grabbing her hand. “Mike’s going to come and look. He said something about Will feeling like something was watching him.” Joyce looked at him with confusion.

“But you said,” she said point her finger at him.

“It’s closed,” his voice came out a little more forceful. “I watched it close, and I also watched her almost die trying to do it.” Hopper watch Mike run to his truck, opening the back door and hopping in.

“Okay, I tried radioing him but all I got was Lucas.” Mike said putting his seat belt on. “I think if we were going to try anywhere we should try around where the lab used to be. Maybe they are looking for something, a sign that it’s still around.”

“What’s still around?”

“The upside down,” Mike said matterafactly. “That’s what he meant, when he said he felt as if something was watching him. He said he asked El about it before.”

“You think it’s still there,” Joyce asked, Hopper watched her eyes bulge slightly. He sighed, looking out the front window. If he were El, and he felt scared, what would he do? What would she do?

“El’s a fighter,” Hopper said. “Even though a lot of the times she runs to hide, when it comes to the upside down, she’s willing to fight.”

“Yeah,” Mike said adjusting in his seat. “She’s curious, and she wants to know.” Where would she go? Hopper turned the truck on.

“Where are we going?”

“To where she thinks this all started, the lab.”

“But the labs not there anymore,” Joyce said.

“Or is it?” Hopper said. “Maybe they just built a giant shopping center around it.” He put the vehicle in drive, moving down the cul-de-sac. Mike tapped his leg in the back.

…

“That entire wall was the gate?” Max asked.

“Yes,” El said simply. She felt like she wanted to be sick as the lift slightly moved back and forth as they made their way down. Max moved her flashlight all along the wall, looking for anything out of the ordinary. Dead vines, were starting to slip from the wall, a stench was starting to creep up as they got lower.

“It smells like death,” Max said, covering her nose with her sleeve. Before they knew it the lift slammed onto the ground, all three of them grabbing the side trying not to fall over. Max opened the gated door, holding it open for them to walk out first. El took the flash light in her hand, shining it on the floor. She squinted through the dark, finding a few bones here and there. There was a stray Coke can, a brown paper bag somewhere else.

“People have been here,” Will said. El kept moving forward, flashing the light onto the walls, finding a small dirt passage way.

“The tunnels,” Max said. “That’s how they were getting around.” El could hear Will give a small breath; she did the same as she felt something move past her ankles. She shined the light on her feet, a cloud of fog covering them, coming from the tunnel entrance. Her feet were getting cold, she was starting to be able to see her breath. She moved forward, wanting to look.

“Maybe we shouldn’t go,” Will said, grabbing her arm to stop her. “This doesn’t feel right.”

“You can stay here,” El said. “I want to look.” She took her arm from Will, moving to the tunnel, Max followed closely behind. She rummaged through her bag, pulling out the red flair gun. She could hear a loud sigh coming from Will as he moved from his spot, following further behind.

El looked all over the walls of the tunnels, each vine they came across was dead. The ones on the floor crunched under their feet, turning to dust. She had come this far, and even though they hadn’t found anything yet, she still felt as if something was there, like something was following them. They came to a fork in the road; El looked down both tunnels, trying to figure which way to go. She picked left, reminding herself that maybe some other time she could go the other way.

“Don’t you think we’ve gone far enough?” Will asked. He signed his light onto his watch. “I’m in deep shit.” He cursed.

“Then why not keep going?” Max said. “If we’re already in trouble then there not point in going back now.”

“Just a little further,” El reassured him. “I just feel like I need to go this way, I need to see.”

“I feel the opposite,” Will said. “Seriously, something is here, and it’s hunting us.”

“Oh please,” Max said. “Everything is dead, and if something really is here, then we should find it. El’s right, we keep moving.” El looked to the red head, feeling her chest fill a little bit. Neither of them hated one another, but there hadn’t been much of a friendship made yet.

They walked in silence; the only sound being made was the crunching of the dead vines under them. El tried to remember what Mike had said, about what they had done in the tunnels before. He had gone down here with the others, burning some of the walls to help. Some out of the corner of her eye moved, she moved her flashlight fast, only finding more gray dead vines on the wall. But just under them, she could see it, like it was a small animal breathing. She could feel her breath hitch.

There was a slap of metal against metal in the distance, all three of their heads moving in the same direction. It happened again, like chains falling. It was fast, one minute she was standing with them, pointing her flash light down the hallway of the tunnel, and the next she felt a tug around her leg. Her flashlight flew from her hand as she fell to the ground, dust from the powdered vines coming up behind her. She was being dragged, down the tunnel away from her friends.

“El?” Will yelled. She tried to sit up, as she got thrown around on the floor, her body slamming into rocks, and dirt. “El!” They ran after her as she tried to hold her arms out, the grip on her leg tightening. She focused her mind, trying to figure out her next move. She looked to her leg, a vine tightened around it. She tried to move it, with her mind, but nothing happened, it wasn’t working. She couldn’t focus; all she could do was get pulled, and fight.

As quickly as it came, everything stopped suddenly. She stopped on the opening of a large dug out cave, dust forming around her and the vine slowly slithered from her leg, Slipping on to the aground and moving like a snake up the wall.

“Oh my god!” Max yelled, grabbing her by her arms and lifting her up. “I think we’ve seen enough, it’s time to go.” El nodded her head, her hips feeling bruised. She looked around the small cave; it smelt of gasoline and smoke. Small vines peeked from the ashes on the floor.

“Their growing back,” she said looking to her friends. “How are they growing back? I closed the gate.” Will grabbed her, pushing her in front of him.

“This can’t be happening,” he sounded like he was going to vomit as he pushed her down the tunnel. “This can’t be happening.” He repeated.

“Maybe we can move a little faster,” Max said moving ahead of them. “I didn’t like those sounds we were hearing earlier.” They all settled into a jog, tripping over dead things, and their own feet as they went. El could feel sweat building up on her forehead, almost freezing in the cold air. They came out of the tunnel opening, Max using her flashlight to guide them. “Shit,” she said, pointing the light at the lift. The chains used to hold it up were scattered on the floor, and all over the cage. El turned looking all around her, vines moving on the wall.

“Why did I think this was a good idea?” Will said.

“We’re stuck,” El said. She could feel her stomach drop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a long one so I'm sorry it took a little while to get it out. I just want to say how proud I am of little Millie. Working with UNICEF has always been a dream of mine, and I'm so happy she is making a difference at such a young age.  
> I hope you guys have a great holiday break, for those that live in the US.


	4. Flower

El was starting to miss her flash light as she watched Max kick the elevator cage a few times in anger. Will looked down at his watch, rolling his eyes. He let the flash light linger around the massive mouth of the cave, looking to the walls as small vines moved around like snakes. El could feel a cut on her knee from when she was dragged, the pain on her lower half of her body starting to kick in as her adrenaline wore down.

“What was I thinking?” Will said under his breath. He slowly started to pace a distance away from her. In all honesty she didn’t feel too scared. At least she understood why she felt like something was always watching her; it’s because there was. She limped slowly to the wall, looking at the plant like strings as they slithered around. She put her hand up; wondering what would happen if she touched one.

“Stop,” Max said out of breath. “We don’t know what those things are.” She walked closer to El; bring her flash light with her. “You think you could lift this thing out of here?” El looked to the cage. Will stopped his pacing to look at her, hope in his eyes. She shook her head. She hadn’t done much with her powers since that night. Most of the time it would just end with her in a big head ache, and Hopper saying _I told you so_ over and over.

Hopper, the name made her blood run cold. He was going to kill her. It was going to be a grounding she had never experienced before. She could feel her face get hate with fear. She looked around the space, trying to think of a quick escape.

“Time,” El said bitterly to Will. He looked down with his flash light, and then looked up to the ceiling.

“It doesn’t matter,” Will said. “It’s too late. My mom probably has the entire town on patrol by now.”

“Shit,” Max said. El wondered what it was going to be like, death by scolding. She had listened to Mike and Nancy tell her stories of how they would get in trouble as small kids, how their parents would yell, how they would clean the house top to bottom in punishment. She hated cleaning, and even more than that she hated Hopper yelling at her. “Well, since we’re down here,” Max walked to the mouth of the tunnels, pointing her flash light to Will then to El.

“No,” Will said with anger. “Are you crazy? We stay here. With any luck Billy will come looking for us and we can yell for help.”

“Yeah right! Billy probably forgot about us as soon as he walked away.” El rolled her eyes, looking back to the dirt wall behind her. If she were Indiana Jones they would have been out of there already. No, if she were Indiana Jones she would be in those tunnels, searching for the real reason as to why they were down there. She pondered the thought for a moment, looking to an aggravated Will and then over to Max.

“This time we know what to expect,” She said to them. She wished she had a hat, because if she did she would have secured it on her head before going first into the dark tunnels. Will let out a small whine, while Max walked closely next to her. If she were Indiana Jones she wouldn’t feel fear, but for some reason she couldn’t shake the feeling like she was being followed.

…

Hopper could feel his temper rising as he stood at the door of the mall. Billy continued to tell him how Will, Max, and ‘that other girl’ showed up looking for Steve’s locker. He was going to kill her. No, he wasn’t going to kill her, he was going to make her wish she was dead. There were no words for the punishment she was going to get because grounding wasn’t going to be enough. He knew this plan had her hands all over it, there was no way Will would have thought of doing something so stupid.

“Where are they now?” Hopper said through his teeth. He looked back at his truck which sat on the curb by the entrance. Joyce had her head out of the window trying to listen as well as she could. Mike sat in the back, his eyes on Billy.

“I haven’t seen them since I let them in,” Billy opened the door to the Mall. “We can look. You going to arrest her?” He asked letting Hopper through the doors. Hopper held up his hand to Joyce as she tried to move out of the car. He signaled for her to stay. She rolled her eyes before sitting back in her seat with her arms crossed.

“I’m sure your sister didn’t have much to do with this plan,” he said back to the boy, pulling out his flash light as they walked down the dark entry way.

“She not my sister,” Billy said through his teeth. “She’s a little brat; I knew she was up to something.” They both sat in an uncomfortable silence, but Hopper didn’t care. He followed Billy all the way to the food court; he eyed the kid as he made his way to the white double doors. Billy opened then loudly, the force making the door slam against the tiled wall. They both took a step into a hallway, multiple doors hung open.

“Shit,” Billy said under his breathe. He walked to the closest door quickly, looking in before closing it with an angered scream. “I’m going to kill her.” Hopper moved past him down the hall, taking a peek into a door every once and a while. He made it to the end, two doors remained shut, he turned back to Billy who stood at a door in the middle.

Hopper listened to his own footsteps, his stomach dropping as he realized what he was walking to. ‘It’s not there anymore’, he had told her, ‘nothing is there anymore’. Hopper stood next to Billy, the boy’s flashlight beaming down the stairs. They were the same walls, the same stairs, and the same god damn place.

“She going to get me fired,” Billy flew down the stairs. “Maxine!” he yelled at the top of his lungs. Hopper ran after him before looking around the hall; making sure they weren’t being followed. Billy threw open the door at the bottom of the stairs, Hopper slamming into the back of him. He stood in the basement of the lab, turning to the doors he had wished were destroyed. “Where are you going?” Billy said from behind him as he moved to the big metal doors. He knew where she had gone, and now he wasn’t as mad; just sorry.

Someone had been there regularly. The walls didn’t seem as dirty, the floors looked almost waxed. He moved as if he had been there a thousand times, going through those haunting metal doors. The room where it had all happened, renovated; the whole still there.

“What is this?” Billy said, moving his flashlight around the room. Hopper stepped up onto the platform, moving to the edge of the hole. He looked down at the darkness, flashes of memory’s playing in front of his eyes. He cupped his hands over his mouth, taking in a big breathe.

“El!” he yelled down the hole. His voice echoed off the walls, Billy pointed his flashlight down as if it would help. He heard nothing back, no voices, nothing moving around. He looked up at the chains from the elevator platform, two of the chains cut in half.

“I don’t understand,” Billy said. Hopper looked to him, both of them standing close to the edge; hoping for some sound to come back to them. Maybe if he found some rope, maybe there was another way down. “The floors are too flat,” Billy said, reading his mind. “We’re standing on concrete, but maybe this platform could help stabilize a rope, we could shimmy our way down.”

“You read my mind,” Hopper said. They moved away from the hole, a cold breeze following them as they went. A shiver moved down Hoppers spine, a feeling of dread resting in the pit of his stomach.

…

They stood in the belly of the beast. Will could hear the screams of the men that had gone down into these tunnels only to be killed, all thanks to him. He felt as if he couldn’t catch his breath, and as he watched El squat close to the ground he could feel his heart fall from his chest. She watched the vines move, studying them amongst the remints of burned crisps from when the party had set fire to the hive.

“There’s bones,” El said, grabbing Max’s pant legs to get her attention. Max bent down next to her with her flash light, both girls trying to look through the movement to see what it was from. Will decide to walk the perimeter. He had never been in the tunnels, only in his mind. For some reason it didn’t really feel any different. He was sure he could never get lost, knowing every turn and where it led. The thought made him stop where he stood.

“I know how to get out.” He said, both girls looking up at him.

“What?” Max stood from her spot, slowly walking over to him.

“I know how to get out.” He repeated. “A small cave opening in the woods. That is, if it hasn’t caved in by know.” They all stared at one another.

“Lead the way,” Max said. “Get me out of this hell before we all go crazy.” Will looked at the few options he had. Four openings within the hive, four different ways to go. He pointed his flash light at the opening behind the girls.

“This way,” he picked up his pace, moving past both of the girls and into the tunnel. For once he felt helpful; for once he was going to be the one to get them out of a situation.

…

There was something following her for sure, and as she followed behind Will and Max she was starting to realize what it was. Small squeaks were coming from behind her, and every time she stopped to look she could see the small rat trailing close to her feet. At first it slightly grossed her out, but as they picked up their pace and the thought of getting out of these tunnels was quickly becoming reality, she didn’t care anymore. She imagined the rat was just trying to find a way out as well.

They decided to stay quiet, only because they didn’t know what was listening or if those vines would try to grab her again. El looked down at her jeans, dirt clumped in patches. She could feel a sharp pain coming to her left elbow, and now that she thought about it she could feel blood drying at different spot of her body.

If she thought Hopper was going to kill her before, she knew she was dead now. Not only had she found herself within the hive, but she also managed to get herself hurt in the process. If she could recall the plan Hopper had for her, it all consisted of her not doing stupid things and thinking before she did anything irrational.

“I’m going to sleep for two days after this,” Max whispered. “I swear I feel like I’m about to suffocate down here.” El looked behind her, the small rat still trailing behind. She listened to Will’s hurried footsteps trying to remind herself to put one foot in front of the other.

“Do you feel that?” Will whispered. They all stopped, the tunnel went silent.

“A breeze,” Max said moving past Will. He followed suit, but something didn’t feel right, something was making El’s stomach turn. She watched her friends move forward, their steps taking them further away, but she couldn’t move. Her breath grew heavier, and for once she didn’t feel cold but extremely hot. Something tugged at her pant leg; the small rat standing on her shoe. The sight of it made her move, slightly kicking it off in instinct.

“El?” Will turned around, his flashlight not quite reaching her. “Come on, let’s get out of here.” He stepped forward, one foot touching the vine cover dirt path.

The sound was deafening, the shaking making her fall onto her back. Dirt clouded the air, Will and Max’s screams were over shadowed by the crumbling of the tunnels walls and ceiling. El coughed, looking around in the dark, but not able to see. The ceiling had clasped, the dirt that had hung over them covering the path way that was leading them out. She was alone, in the dark; the only sound was her panicked breathing and a light squeak coming from behind her.

“Will?” she said out of reaction. Did it fall on him? She stood with her arms out in front of her trying to feel for the dirt pile. She stumbled over the thick vines, her hands moving around her trying to find some sort of support. Her hands landed on the dirt pile that had fallen in between her and her friends. The loose dirt slid down to her feet as she tried to dig her way through slowly. As she dug through, more and more dirt fell from above, making her progress worthless.

“El,” Max’s muffled yell made her heart jump. They were there; on the other side. “El!”

“Max!” She tried to yell as loud as she could; her throat growing dry from the dusty air. She tried to dig again, faster than before. Dirt kept filling the spaces she scrapped away.

“We’ll get you out!” Max yelled. Hope filled El chest. They would get her out, and she knew they wouldn’t stop until it happened. She kept digging, focusing on the pile in front of her, and not anything else. She could feel it them, a light tingle at her ankle, something playing with her pant leg. She stopped her movement; looking down her feet, but not able to see through the dark. Her heart speed up as something tightened around her leg, she tried to grab onto the dirt hill as her leg was pulled from under her, a loud scream leaving her mouth.

She wasn’t sure if her friends heard her, she wasn’t sure if anyone would. As she was dragged she put her hands out, trying to grab hold of any root or vine that she could. She could feel her nails breaking, and a cut being scraped open as she was pulled down the tunnel.

Everything stopped around her, her eyes adjusting to the hive. She tried to look around herself, trying to see what kind of danger she was facing. There were shadows; thin strips moving around the room. Something was running over her, and as she tried to stand. She could feel the vine grab her again; making her land on her butt.

The rat, it stood in her lap; squeaking loudly in the silence. She tried to push it out of her lap, but it was reluctant to move. The vines moved around her, growing over her legs, starting to build up her arms. She closed her eyes, trying to concentrate. She was going to squeeze them, and pull them and tare them apart. She could feel the reins release one by one and she shredded them with her mind, but as the vines loosened on her legs she could feel a sharp pain run up her right side. A bite from the rat. She screamed as she pulled her arms away from the vines, throwing the rat across the room; hitting it against the dirt wall. Blood trickled down her leg as she stood; finding the tunnel they had first come from. She ran, trying to make her way back to the mall, back to the lift.

…

“Kid, if you ask any more questions I’ll send you back to the car.” Mike could feel his mind racing a million miles a minute. If someone had told him he would be climbing down a giant hole that lay under the mall with Billy and Hopper he would have laughed in their face. He tightened the rope around him one more time, watching as Hopper helped Bill tie the other end to the metal path way by the hole. Joyce stood by the door, biting her nails bouncing up and down.

Mike took a look down, not really understanding why his friends would want to go down there. He didn’t understand why Will hadn’t come to him, and why El was so willing to follow. He knew they were okay; at least they had to be.

“What do I do when I find them?” Mike asked, looking to Hopper. “I’m not really the most athletic. I don’t think I can climb back up this thing, and if I know Will I’m pretty sure he can’t either.”

“You’re the lightest. We are going to help you down and help you back up.” Hopper stood next to him, looking down the shaft. “We do it one at a time. You do the tie I taught you, and we bring them up one at a time.”

“And if they’re not down there?” They all looked at one another, Billy taking his flashlight to look down one last time.

“They’re down there,” Hopper said with a frown. “I know she’s down there.” Mike understood; that pulling feeling of El’s presents. He could feel it too, like she was there, but just slightly out of sight. “Keep a hold of the rope,” Hopper continued. “Plant your feet on the side of the wall and do small jumps on your way down. Don’t rush it.” Mike nodded his head, thinking of the time his parents let him and Nancy climb a rock wall in Indianapolis. Hopper put of hand on Mike should, bowing his head. “I know you can do this.”

 He watched Billy and Hopper grab the rope, holding it closed to where it was knotted around his body.

“When you see Max, give her a good punch for me,” Billy said through his teeth. Mike felt panic fill his stomach, his throat closing up as he turned his back to the hole. He grabbed hold of the rope, feeling it tighten around his groan and waist as he took small steps to the edge. He made eye contact with Hopper, who nodded his head with confirmation. The room went quite, his foot rising slightly to take the small step off, that when they heard the scream.

It was far away, but no doubt coming from the tunnels bellow. His eyes widened, he took his steps faster, Billy and Hopper moving with him as he slowly jumped and glided his was down. Another scream came, this one lighter. It was only one voice, only one person. And as he felt himself getting further down her started to realize that he knew that voice.

“El,” he said lightly in response. His ability to see was getting more difficult. He couldn’t tell how far away he was from the bottom, not until his butt landed on the floor. He tugged the rope two times, letting them know he had made it to the bottom. He pulled a small flash light from his pocket, looking around the dugout hole; the lift sitting in the middle of the room, an opening of the tunnels just behind it. He put one foot in front of the other, looking around the room with fear.

She had closed the gate, he knew this, but for some reason he couldn’t shake the feeling like something was there; watching. He stopped in front of the opening of the tunnel, the small beam of light shining just a small way ahead. Something was moving around him, he could see the movement in the dirt. He looked around the entrance, moving his flashlight around the wall. Vines were bundling together, closing in around the hole of the tunnel. He could feel his heart pick up, almost pumping out of his chest as he moved into the tunnel in a run.

He didn’t understand. She had closed the gate, yet it still lived on under the town. He tripped a few times, running past moving vines as he tried to find the right path to take.

“El!” he yelled. “El!” He felt something tug in his stomach, leading him down the path slightly faster.

“Mike?” Her voice drew out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding. “Mike?!” he ran, his legs hurting from the speed, until his practically ran over her small body as he came to an opening to a large dirt room.

She was covered in dirt, small scrapes on her fast and arms; wholes in her jeans and sweater. He pulled her into a tight hug, but she pushed him back.

“What are you doing here?” She asked with slight anger. Her eyebrows frowned together. The fear he had been feeling quickly left, anger filling his chest.

“ME?” He said grabbing a hold of her shoulders. He could almost shake her. “What about you? Why would you come here? What were you thinking? Why didn’t you tell me? Hopper is pissed, and have you seen these vines; they’re moving.” El pulled him out of the open space and back into the tunnel. She rolled her eyes at his questions, pulling the flashlight out of his hand and pointing it around the dirt room. Mike looked around with her, realizing where they stood.

The Hive.

“Where’s Max and Will?” El let out a tight breath, pointing it to another tunnel across the way from them.

“The ceiling feel, they were on the other side.” She looked to the flood of the hive, Mike looking with her. A pile of vines moved in a cluster. “I was pulled here, the second time it happened tonight.” She looked up to Mike, he could feel sweat building on his forehead. “I need to go back, they’re at an opening; a way out.” Mike shook his head, grabbing her arms and pulling her down the tunnel.

“I’ll come back for them; I’m getting you out first.” El stopped in her tracks, causing Mike to roll his eyes.

“I’m not leaving,” she said stubbornly. “They’re trying to get to me, what if they get through and come looking? They could get lost down here.”

“Why can’t you just let me help you for once?” Mike said through his teeth. “It’s not your job to save everyone. I’ll come back for them, but not until I get you out of here.” She pried her arm away from him, walking back into the hive.

“I’m not leaving. Will needs me.” Mike felt something weird build inside of him; a kind of jealousy he didn’t quite understand. She walked over the cluster of vines, walking into another dark tunnel. Mike let his head fall backward in defeat, following El as quickly as he could. They walked in silence for a while. Mike tried to hold his tongue as they made their way further and further from the mall.

“How mad is he?” El asked in the stillness. Mike thought for a moment, she could have been talking to herself, finally realizing what she meant.

“I’m pretty sure Joyce is more worried about it than he is, but he doesn’t show emotion really well.” El continued to walk in front of him, his flashlight lighting the way. He let his mind wonder, looking down at the dirt floor as they went. He stepped over vines and rocks, slipping slightly every few feet as the environment moved around them. He ran into the back of El and she suddenly stopped in her place; making her launch forward. He steadied her on her shoulders.

The entrance way was blocked, a mound of dirt in their way. They stood and stared for only a moment before El got closer to the wall.

“Will!?” she yelled. They stood for a moment, nothing to be said on the other side.

“El,” Max’s muffled voice came through. The tension Mike didn’t know he was holding was let out of his shoulders. El sighed in relief. “We had to take a break,” Max continued. “The dirt just keeps falling.” Mike moved El out of the way, grabbing the flashlight and pushing away some dirt to only see it be replaced from above.

“Do you have a way out?!” Mike yelled. He took a look behind him, scanning the tunnel to make sure they were alone.

“Mike?” This time Will spoke up, the sound of his voice making him more angry than anything else. He tried to keep his cool, knowing that this raw emotion would only land him in trouble. “How did you get here?”

“It’s a long story!” Mike yelled back. “I have a way out, but I would like you guys to come.”

“That would be nice,” Max said. Mike handed the flashlight to El, moving his hands to the mound of dirt. He began to dig, pushing away as much as he could. His efforts were for nothing as the mound just stayed the same. He took the flashlight back, looking to the top where the cave-in had happened. He took a look to the floor.

“I need a stick or something,” Him and El fanned out as much as they could throughout the tunnel. He picked at dead vines to have them only turn to ash.

“What about this,” El held up a bone, as big as he arm. She held it with her finger tips as if it was contagious. He took a step towards her, looking down at the floor as he went. He took the long bone from her, gripping it in his hands.

“Maybe you should stay close,” He said, thinking of that moment, so many months ago when the vine had taken his ankle. This bone could easily become one of them. She nodded her head as they made their way back. He handed her his flashlight one last time.

“ I’m going to dig from the top left corner,” He yelled to his friends. “Your top right!” He dug into the wall first, trying to put his small muscles to use as much as he could. It wasn’t until he was half way through that he realized Max was doing the same. He took the bone, slamming the bunt end into the wall, the thin dirt crumbling. Max stood on her tiptoes, a small smile on her face while Will pointed a flashlight into the hole.

“Hello stranger,” she said sarcastically. “I appreciate that you think I’m skinny but this hole is far too small.” Mike let a smile slip past his lips.

“I’m working on it,” He could see that she was covered in dirt. They worked in silence for the next ten minutes, scrapping at hard and loose dirt until the hole was just big enough to fit them through.

“Okay Mr. Wise,” Max said pushing Will closer to the wall. “You got us in this mess you get to test if the hole works.” Mike eyed Will from the other side of the wall, looking to El who had taken a seat on the other side of the tunnel. She had her sleeve rolled up, looking down at her nails and scraped arms.

Will army-crawled through the passage way, Mike grabbed his arms, helping him through. He practically fell from the hole from the top of the tunnel.

“Come on max,” Mike said hurriedly. “People are waiting on us.” Will swiped at his jeans, looking over to El with a small smile.

“We heard you scream, and then you didn’t answer.” Mike kept his eye on the two as he watched max crawl through the small hole.

“Technical difficulties,” El said with a small smile.

“I guess we have our answer,” Will said softly. Max landing gracefully onto the tunnel floor, dusting her jeans’ the flashlight in her mouth.

“Let’s get the hell out of here,” she said taking her flashlight in her hand. Mike moved forward, a sense of something empty inside of him. He wanted to be mad at them, his worry fading now that they were all beside him. He wanted to be mad at Will, but more frustratingly he wanted to be mad at El.

The radio he had stuffed in his back pocket made a fumbling noise; echoing through the long tunnel way. All three turned to look at Mike as he fumbled with it in his pocket.

“Ki-,” Hoppers voice came in and out of range. All that was made out was mumbled hard to make out words. He picked up his pace, finally coming out into the Hive of the tunnels. “I’m going to come down there if you don’t answer.” Hopper said, his voice deeper with authority.

“We’re here Chief.” Mike said back, he looked through the four separate halls; trying to remember where to go.

“This way,” Will said leading them to the right. Mike followed behind Will, the girls behind him.

“Is everything okay?” Hopper radioed.

“We’re all fine, heading back now. Over and out.” He pushed the large radio back into his back pocket. “We are going to have to go one at a time up the rope. Hopper and Billy are at the top.”

“Ah man,” Max whined. “I’m going down, this is it for me.”

“I think we’re all going down,” Will said looking back at his friends. “I’m sorry,” he looked down at the dirt floor with a frown. “I wanted so badly to be wrong. I wanted this to be over, but I had to check.” Mike grabbed his friend by the shoulder, his feelings a jealously being pushed aside by his feelings of sorrow and understanding.

“I wanted it to be over too,” EL said quietly behind him. He looked to the girl, smaller than the rest, her body covered in cuts and dirt. “I started this, and I thought I could stop it but I can’t.” Mike thought back to the days, not so long ago, when she would have a hard time saying so many words. He thought about the times where she would turn red in frustration just trying to get simple saying out of her mouth. Now she stood with them, equal to their understanding, yet still distant from her inability to be normal.

“Let’s keep moving,” Mike said clearing his throat. Just a few days ago he would have told her it was okay, that it wasn’t her fault and they would figure it out. Now he was confused, unable to find any resemblance to the girl they had rescued in the forest. They retraced their steps back to the large pit, tying Max to the rope first before radio Hopper to let them know she was ready to be lifted up.

El and Mike stood together, watching as Will was lifted into the distance. They stood in silence for a moment before El started to move around, her feet kicking the ground.

“You’re mad at me.” El said quietly looking at the floor.

“I’m not mad El,” He said looking to the dirt walls. Honestly he didn’t know what he was. Maybe confused, because she hadn’t told him about what she was thinking. Maybe he was mad at the fact that she would rather not tell him about what her and Will had planned tonight. “I just,” He shook his head looking for the right words to say. “I guess I’m a lot of things. I’m mad that I wasn’t a part of this, I’m mad at Hopper for keeping us distant because now I feel like I don’t know you as well as I thought I did. I frustrated at Will, and I feel like you find better company in him then you do in me now.” He looked to her, kind of proud and astonished that he was able to feel all those emotions at once.

“I’ve been having dreams.” El said looking up to him. “About my mom, and they feel so real.” She bent down, starching her ankle, pain coming across her face, but vanishing quickly. “It’s like, she’s trying to tell me something, but can’t quite get it out.” There was a slap of the rope as it fell from above, hitting the wall beside them. Mike grabbed it, looking to El as he gazed in the distance. He held out his hand to her.

“You go first; I’ll come up behind you.” She squinted her eyes at him, before looking around the large space.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” She said slowly.

“Don’t be ridicules.” He said leaning forward to grab her hand. “You don’t know how to tie the rope, and I’m not leaving you down here by yourself.” They both looked down at their hands, El moved a little bit closer changing the atmosphere that surrounded his space.

“You go first,” she said softly. Mike let out a frustrated sigh.

“Don’t be stubborn,” He said to her. “Just go up and I’ll be right behind you.” El rolled her eyes; shaking her head.

…

Hopper watched Joyce stand by the door with Will, his head bowed as she quietly scolded him. He didn’t blame the kid, with so many years of fear and suffering. He looked back to the big gaping hole in front of them, Billy standing next to him holding the rope.

“What’s taking them so long?” Max asked from behind them, trying to look past their bodies. Hopper grabbed the radio speaker that attached to the top of his shirt.

“Hey kid?” He said into the walkie talkie. “Are we coming up today or what?” There was silence, a pull of the rope as Billy motioned for him to grab the back. They pulled hard, the weight a little heavier than Will. Why would Mike be coming up first? He tried not to think, only concentrating on pulling until he was able to see the boy grab onto the ledge of the metal walk way. Billy bent down and helped him back up.

“Where’s El?” He asked in almost a panic. He could feel his stomach dropping slowly at the thought that something went wrong; his head sending him to thoughts of foren creatures dragging her through the tunnels and taring her apart.

“She wouldn’t come up first,” Mike said in annoyance. “She said she could defend herself but I couldn’t.” Hopper could see anger flash before the boy’s eyes as he untied the rope around his body.

“That makes sense,” Max said. “I mean she does have,” She stopped mid-sentence, looking to her brother. “Training in fighting?” She said stumbling slight over the words.

“Right,” Mike said looking at her. “Training.” Hopper took the rope from him throwing it over the ledge. “She has the walkie talkie.” Mike said moving further down the walk way. Hopper grabbed his speaker one more time.

“Okay El,” he said through the radio. “It’s time to come up and face the music.” There was silence on the other side, nothing being said. “El?” He turned to look toward Mike who closed his eyes in disappointment. They stood in silence for ten seconds, each second becoming longer than the last. Hopper could feel his heart skip a few beats.

“I don’t hear any music,” EL said through the radio.

“She tugging the rope,” Billy said. Hopper moved quickly behind him, both of them pulling at the same time. Hopper frowned at the dirt covered girl as she lifted herself up from the metal flooring.

“Please don’t ground me,” She said slightly out of breath. She looked to his eyes before he let out a breath of relief.

…

El watched Mike lift into the air, waiting for him to look away before she took a few steps back from the wall. Mike had given her his flashlight and walkie talkie, she shined the beam across the wall slowly, trying to find any sign of the gate still being there. She started low, looking through vines and dirt with a squint of her eye.

The flashlight only went so far, she couldn’t see beyond a certain point as the light went higher. It didn’t matter much since the vines didn’t reach too far up, she was about to give up before the light shined on something slightly different than the objects she had been looking at.

A flower, one she hadn’t really seen before. Red vines holding it out from the wall. The flower head opened up with the color of blood, sharp thorns growing out the center of it. Clear liquid dripped slowly from a thorn, landing on a petal as it fell. There was a slap behind her, the rope hitting the wall to indicate it was time to go, but she couldn’t shift her eyes away. She watched, the flower slightly moving to face her, a small light starting to glow from behind it.

“Okay El,” if she could jump ten feet in the air she would. The radio making the space around her fill with a different type of energy. “It’s time to face the music.” The phrase made her roll her eyes, mostly because she didn’t really understand it. She looked around her, feeling like time had just escaped her. She looked back to the flower, the glowing from behind gone.

There was a tingle, followed by a slight pain on her lower leg. She bent down, giving it a slight scratch; the bite from the rat worse than she thought it was. She looked back to the flower, the feeling of warm blood on her finger tips from her bite. It felt as if the flower was looking back, the beauty distracting in a way that she couldn’t take her eyes off of it.

“El?” Hoppers voice sounded distant, and even though she wanted to look away and respond; she just couldn’t. It was like watching something ugly happen, like when Max scraped her knee along the street, her skin pealed back with blood gushed down her leg. El desperately wanted to look away, but she just couldn’t.

She brought the walkie talkie up to her lips, the static the radio was making reminded her of the dark space between the two realities. She pressed the button down, knowing that if she didn’t answer soon Hopper would jump down the hole himself.

“I don’t hear any music,” she found herself saying, finally pulling her eyes away from the unearthly flower. She walked to the rope, quickly wrapping it like Mike had shown her, tugging to be pulled up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all, it's been a while. I hope you enjoyed! I'm slowly trying to get my stuff off my old computer. It decided it didn't want to work for me anymore and I had a bunch of writing on it. It took me like two month to save up for a new computer, but now I'm back in action and it feel so good.

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to leave a comment, they are always loved. Thank you so much for reading. I'm already working on the second chapter but it might be a few days. I tend to write long ones. Hope to see you soon.  
> For updates you can follow me on Tumblr @ https://lazycollectionofcoffee.tumblr.com/


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